Heroics of a Would-Be Red Dragon Magician
by Information Broker
Summary: When you're dying, you'll make just about any sort of deal to live. The trick is to make sure that you're getting more out of it than they are. And to strike first, that doesn't hurt either. Forced to make a decision between dying to an illness eating away at his body or selling his soul to a devil, Yakagi Suimei's choice is fairly obvious.
1. Chapter 1

"So there's nothing more that can be done?" Suimei asked as he carefully slipped his white dress shirt back on, having decided to forego the school uniform's blazer today for no reason in particular other than not wanting to wear it, along with discarding that stupid ribbon that came with the uniform. He might catch a warning or detention from some member of the Student Council for his blatant disregard for the academy's rules but he didn't much care anymore. Such things weren't worth worrying over, especially now.

The dark-haired teen cast a dull glance at the x-rays that were still shown upon the screen, the most prominent ones being a set of images that displayed a set of lungs that looked, to put it nicely, chewed upon. To put it _honestly_ , they were utterly ravaged and Suimei had known, and felt, as much before he'd taken even one step into the hospital for his routine examination. He had been coughing up blood for some time now, and physical exertion constantly left him gasping for breath, which would then set off one of his debilitating coughing fits that left his body wracked with pain.

"There are some experimental treatments and drugs we can put you on but other than that, no. Your illness still isn't one we fully understand at this point and time. The closest parallel we can draw to it is an incredibly aggressive form of tuberculosis, one that progresses far faster than anything we've seen before and has rejected all usual forms of treatment and medication. Your lungs have taken the most damage thus far but its begun to show signs of spreading to your bones and kidneys as well. Because of the speed with which it's progressing, it's only a matter of time until it travels to the membranes surrounding your brain and spinal cord. Once it reaches that point, it is undoubtedly fatal."

The doctor's tone was strictly professional, not displaying any overt emotion one way or another despite the subject matter. Very surgical, almost robotic in a way, not holding anything back or trying to sugarcoat his words. Suimei respected that. The man knew how to distance himself from his work, not breaking down or getting all teary-eyed just because he was essentially telling a 17-year old that he had run out of options and was going to die, likely sooner rather than later. All the better for him, it would have been awkward if the situation somehow wound up with him having to comfort the medical practitioner.

Still, experimental treatments? Nothing but false hope and they both knew it. Doctors couldn't even pinpoint just what exactly it was that he had, so how could they dream of curing it? All they could offer him were empty promises, false hope, and, eventually, their condolences once they failed. It wasn't as if a transplant was on the table either. So long as his body housed his unique illness then there wasn't a way in hell any hospital board or doctor would approve such a procedure. His sickness would destroy a new set of lungs just as they had done to his own, and what was the point in providing organs to a dying man whose body would only ruin them soon after? Better for them to go to someone that actually stood a chance of surviving and making a recovery.

"I see. Nothing for it then," Suimei said with an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. What was there left to do? Cry? Scream? Try to plead with the man, as though if he reversed his diagnosis that would magically fix him? He went into the examination room knowing that, inevitably, one of his visits would end in him being given his death sentence. Today just happened to be the day. "How much longer do I have?"

"Assuming your health stays at it is now? In the best case, you have one year. If your condition worsens drastically and you continue to deteriorate? No longer than three months, at most."

That actually caused him to wince ever so slightly. That little time? How unfortunate. The worst part was, in all honesty, he probably had even less than what the doctor was telling him. In as little as six months he had gone from completely healthy to being told he would die within a year's time. Whatever illness that was rampaging through his body was ramping up, moving quickly to destroy him from the inside out. If it continued its pace he'd be lucky to make it to the end of May, and considering April had only just begun that wasn't saying much.

But, in the end, it didn't matter anyway. He still had his backup plan. Whether or not it actually worked, that was another matter entirely. If it didn't, he was dead regardless. If it did, he was _possibly_ still set to die young. Even still, at least the latter carried the chance to live, and to live to an age far beyond the reaches of any human being at that. Who was he to deny such an opportunity? This diagnosis meant nothing other than the fact that he would now have to hasten his plans.

' _Tonight. Definitely tonight.'_

"Wonderful. We're done here then?" he asked rhetorically as he finished buttoning up his shirt, leaving the uppermost buttons undone to expose his collar. Another citation in the making, this one for wearing the school uniform improperly, but, again, what did he care? He'd just been told he was going to die, what could some power-tripping kids at his school do to him? If they tried anything he could always pull out the get-out-of-jail-free card of _"I'm_ literally _dying"_ and dodge any sort of punishment. After all, who wants to be the asshole that reprimands a man on his last legs?

Suimei turned on his heel and moved to leave the room. He was late to school and, as tempted as he was to simply cut class (both today and out of the remainder of his life), it wasn't as if he had anything better to do at the moment. Besides, he had to give his two friends the joyous news that he would be leaving them all of his personal belongings once – _'If,'_ he mentally corrected himself. His death wasn't set in stone just yet. – he finally kicked the bucket. It wasn't as though he had any family left to leave his possessions to anyway.

"Yakagi-san, if I may offer some advice?" The teen stopped in the doorway and glanced over his shoulder at the doctor. He was a taller than the average man, but other than that he wasn't someone you could easily pick out from a crowd. Plain, average, nondescript, take your pick of which word you wanted to use. "Get your affairs in order. If there's something you wish to do, don't wait another day. Even if your condition improves somehow, your life expectancy has been drastically shortened. Don't waste the time you have left."

Get his affairs in order and take care of his last-minute business? He had already been planning to. He just needed to make one little call to see his last-ditch effort carried out. Whether it worked or not, that was out of his hands.

Still, the boy couldn't help but chuckle. Life advice from his physician? That had been unexpected. And here he thought the man was utterly detached to his circumstances. Seemed the good doctor still had some heart left in him after all, he was just smart enough to not get too attached to his patients to the point of becoming overemotional. Good for him.

"I'll keep it in mind. Have a nice day, Amai-san."

* * *

"How'd things go?" Motohama inquired hesitantly as he finished his lunch, not knowing how to break the ice other than to just come out and ask. He normally had the tact and social graces of a charging rhino but even he knew to handle this with some level of delicacy. His friend had been in bad shape for a while now and every time he returned from a hospital visit the news was rarely, if ever, good news.

"Pretty good. Thanks for asking."

"Really?"

Was that hope Suimei detected? Time to crush that out. He really was a heartless bastard sometimes, but it wasn't his fault. Their over-the-top reactions were just too much fun. Besides, he was the one about to check out, that meant he got to poke fun at anyone he wanted. That was one of the exclusive rights he got in exchange for being terminal. Not a very good trade, but he'd take it for now.

"Psych, I lied. I'm actually dying."

Motohama and Matsuda both choked at the cavalier attitude with which he dropped such a bomb. "What the hell do you mean you're dying?!" the latter cried out, looking at the dark-haired teen in shock. Said boy just continued to eat his sandwich, not really reacting to their shared surprise. "I thought you said you were getting better!"

"Say it louder, why don't you? I'm pretty sure there are a few people across campus that didn't hear you," Suimei mumbled through a mouthful of food before swallowing. "And I never once said I was getting better, I said there were days where I _felt_ better. There were also a lot of days where I could tell I was getting worse too. And considering the only thing worse than 'sick' is 'dying', there's not really a lot of wiggle room. Not sure why you two are so surprised."

"Isn't there something you can do? Some sort of treatment or medicine they can give you?" Matsuda asked in a more subdued voice, still reeling. How could he be so casual about this? Suimei just told them he was _dying_ and it was like he didn't even care. That must have meant there was still something the hospital could do for him. His friend wouldn't just quit on life, he was too stubborn, too hardheaded, for that. Their fearless leader, though both he and Motohama wouldn't be caught dead calling him that while he was in earshot lest he let it get to his head and inflate his ego, was never one to give up on anything once he set his mind to it.

Suimei sighed. He supposed he could at least throw them a bone and let them into his plans on some level without fully explaining everything. They wouldn't have believed what he was going to do anyway, not the full truth of it. They were just normal humans and he, well, he came from a slightly more _distinguished_ background.

"There's still one last experimental trial I can sign up for. The only problem is that the people in charge of it are incredibly picky and choosy about who makes the cut. They're only taking on fifteen applicants and of those fifteen slots, three or four of them are already taken. Even if I get in, there's no guarantee it'll work. Hell, it could just make things worse."

Technically not a single lie in his words, especially that last bit. Changing his physiology and soul from a human being's to that of a more demonic nature could very well kill him anyway, or warp his disease into some sort of supercharged supervirus, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Between definitely dying or possibly dying, the choice was rather obvious. Just because he had made his peace with dying (or so he liked to tell himself whenever he woke up in a cold sweat with his heart doing its best to pound its way out of his chest) didn't mean he'd go quietly when there was at least one last road for him to take.

"Well do it then! Do whatever you have to do to stay alive! You can't just go and die before all three of us achieve our dream of having a harem, man!"

"Uh, all three of us? That's you twos dream. And if I'm stuck staying alive until the day you two can manage to get not just one, but multiple, girls to even go out with you then I might as well go searching for immortality." Suimei tapped an index finger against his chin while he pretended to think. "Though, I still don't think that would be enough time. Maybe until the heat death of the universe? By then there should be at least a few girls that are incredibly desperate and would accept a pair of idiots."

"Hey, screw you! Just because you're about to buy the farm doesn't mean you have to be a dick!"

"Don't insult our dream, you bastard!"

"Just for that, if I die you guys aren't allowed to have my stuff."

And within a single moment, things were back to normal, any sort of seriousness or grim air about their conversation dispelled within an instant.

The trio quickly devolved into arguing with each other, Suimei smirking all the while. The reason for their arguments was a revolving door of topics on everything from their respective attitudes and why none of them could pick up girls, which was better between breasts, ass, thighs, and legs, their grades and who was doing worse than who, to who was stronger between Son Goku and Saitama. This kind of normalcy was nice and, even more importantly in his opinion, familiar. A reprieve from the constant intrusive thoughts that his plans wouldn't go the way he wanted to, that his death was approaching with no way to stave it off, that everything he was doing was pointless, that it'd be better to just spend what little time he had left just enjoying his life, and other such unhelpful, spiteful little wonderings.

"You're just an impossible guy, you know that?!" Matsuda said while pointing a finger at Motohama accusingly, tearing Suimei from his thoughts. He must have zoned out and missed some part of the conversation. "Now come on, I don't want to be late and you need this more than I do at this point!" the boy with the shaved head proclaimed before grabbing Suimei by his arm and proceeding to drag him in the direction of, if he was remembering correctly, the female locker rooms.

"And what exactly do I need?" he asked, allowing himself to be dragged along, his eyebrow quirked upwards in confusion. He had a feeling of exactly where this was going and how it would play out, especially with the way Motohama was smirking as he followed closely behind the two of them.

"If the treatment doesn't work then we gotta make sure you see as much high-quality T&A as possible before you croak. The Kendo club should be changing about now and I found a new spot for us. Don't die on us yet, bastard. We can't lug around a dead body to see Murayama's huge tits or Katase's fine ass!"

Suimei laughed to himself, running a hand through his hair in amusement and exasperation as he tried to keep up with his friend's pace. He tells these two there's a very real possibility of him dying and their priority was getting him to see some naked girls.

' _Some things never change.'_

* * *

Suimei sighed and wiped the sweat from his brow, taking care to not accidentally poke his eyes out or cut up his face with his clawed hand or the sharpened edges of his gauntlet, as he looked at the pentagram he had just spent the past hour drawing in chalk on the concrete pavement of his basement. There were still a few symbols that needed to be drawn, then he needed to flip to the page in his father's notes to find the family crest of the demon he was trying to summon, but he was just about finished. He took a moment to breathe before continuing his work, his thoughts drifting to everything that had led him to where he was now.

At first, the boy had considered simply tracking down a possessor of a certain Sacred Gear and having them fix his body. He had then been told that wouldn't work nearly as well as he hoped. Twilight Healing could heal the damage the disease had done to his body but it wouldn't remove his illness outright. He would have to stay tethered to its wielder for life, constantly requiring their care whenever his condition worsened. And should the day ever come that said wielder decided they were tired of dealing with him? Back to square one, he goes. As such, he discarded the idea almost as quickly as it came to him.

Besides, the only currently known and active possessor of Twilight Healing was, if the information he had purchased was correct, some nun in Italy, but she was so closely guarded by the Vatican that there was practically no hope of getting close to her. The Church only handed out their "healing miracles" to those that were "deserving" of them, which meant if you didn't have the same belief system as they did then you were shit out of luck. And considering he had little belief in religion as a whole despite his knowledge that God was very much real, as well the Church's viewpoint of magicians (that weren't in their employ) being "heretical", he got the feeling they wouldn't be too welcoming or in a rush to open their doors to him.

With Twilight Healing being a no-go, Suimei briefly toyed with the idea of crafting or otherwise acquiring a homunculus body devoid of its own soul as a makeshift "container" for his essence. Taking it a step further, he could theoretically extend his lifespan for as far as he wished, so long he could continue transferring his soul to a new vessel. Unfortunately, that idea had also been shot down, this time by his "partner". He informed Suimei that, while he did have the ability to transfer the boy's soul into a new body, the human most certainly wouldn't be able to achieve any sort of immortality with such a method.

You see, human souls had a maximum set limit to them. An "expiration date", if you will. To go past that, even by one year, would take a miracle. To try and live multiple full lifespans, especially with such a crude method as just shifting his soul around from body to body? A complete impossibility. The soul, just like the body, aged. It would have been, as his red-scaled friend put it, "putting a finely-tailored suit on a corpse". Assuming he made it to old age, all he'd be doing is moving his decrepit, slowly rotting essence into a fresh container, and that wouldn't last very long. His soul would begin to break down and it would slowly drive him insane, until it could take no more strain and collapsed entirely. At that point, there would be no afterlife for him whatsoever. You can't go to Heaven or Hell if your soul is utterly destroyed, after all.

Not to mention the talent and ability required to create a new body for himself was so far beyond his capabilities that he'd probably die before even coming close. And trying to buy one, or purchasing the skills of someone more capable than himself to make one for him? The costs were _astronomical_ , and not just monetarily. Creating artificial humans was an art strictly forbidden by just about every faction out there, or so was their stance publicly as he had no doubt there were groups within factions looking to bolster their ranks by any means necessary. Regardless, to even inquire about such things would draw attention from those you most definitely didn't want attention from, and one question spoken to the wrong person could very well end with your head rolling on the ground.

So they put that idea back on the shelf.

 **[It was a stupid idea, to begin with. If immortality was really that easy then don't you think there would be a lot more magicians from ages past roaming around? I'm pretty sure your father would have used such a method if it wasn't utterly idiotic.]**

Suimei sighed and rolled his eyes. After days of being silent, his partner finally decided to butt in and make himself known once more. Could he have picked a worse time? Probably. At least this time he wasn't on the toilet or in the shower. "Yes, Ddraig, you've told me a hundred times already. I get it, it wasn't my brightest moment. Give me a break, I was dying and desperate," he said, choosing to not address the remark about his father and how he wouldn't have made such a mistake.

The dragon wasn't wrong; his father had been far smarter than he when it came to anything related to the supernatural, paranormal, or magic as a whole. Granted, Suimei's father, Yakagi Kazami, had spent most of his life teaching himself magic with just old tomes to guide him. A self-taught magician, a man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps.

It was inspiring and, in a way, the motivation for Suimei to continue his father's legacy as a second-generation magician. Suimei couldn't allow the man's work to go to waste. He was already behind, only learning of the existence of magic two years prior when Kazami detected that his son had a Sacred Gear and assisted him in manifesting it. Now that his dad was gone, dead and buried for just over a year now, he had an obligation to take up the mantle of his ambition and fulfill it to the best of his abilities, even if his education on all things magic-related hadn't been completed.

 **[You're** ** _still_** **dying and you're** ** _still_** **desperate. That's why we're going through with this.]**

He couldn't really argue that point. Still, desperation fueled many a great achievements and ideas in history. His just hadn't been one of them.

Y Ddraig Goch, the Red Dragon Emperor of Domination, and several other titles he barely cared to remember. The dragon's soul had been with him since birth, sealed within the red gauntlet currently adorning his right arm all the way up to the elbow. It had been the dragon's wisdom and knowledge, along with his father's information and notes on the supernatural world, that had led him this far and allowed him to discover the solution to the issue of his rapidly approaching demise.

Ddraig had put forth his own solution, one of slowly converting his body's damaged parts to that of a dragon's. It was an offer he made to all his previous hosts, though it was typically in exchange for power rather than to save their life. It would have been a slow process and done piecemeal, his human form needing time to grow accustomed to the sudden influx of power he would receive before sacrificing another portion, but it would theoretically allow him to survive. And, if they had more time, he might have taken the offer. Unfortunately, they didn't. By the time Ddraig managed to change all of the afflicted areas to that of a dragon, his illness would have made it to his brain and infected his nervous system, and the Red Dragon Emperor wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to help him there. The dragon claimed that he'd never before had a host that offered their brain as a tribute and he had no idea what would happen. For all he knew, Suimei could become a rampaging beast that would cause havoc and destruction until he was killed.

Seeing as that wasn't an outcome either party was particularly fond of, they put that on the shelf as well.

A few more back and forth exchanges later, the both of them brainstorming a way to save his life, and they both came to the same conclusion that his human body would have to be forfeited, traded in and upgraded to a different type of being altogether, one with a biology strong enough that weak things like human ailments couldn't affect it. From there, they could find a method to heal his damaged organs and he would be back to normal, if not better than ever before.

Werewolf? Rejected. Not only would that require him to actually _find_ a werewolf, the furry, secretive bastards, there were no assurances that if he found one it wouldn't go berserk in its transformed state and try to rip his throat out rather than just give him the bite necessary to turn him. Werewolves that could control themselves once they shifted forms were a rare breed and he wasn't about to play a game of guessing whether the one he found was in control of itself or not.

Vampire? Rejected. He actually did know where to find them, a step in the right direction, thanks to, once again, his father's old records. They were primarily located in Eastern Europe and had split into two separate factions over a dispute on who should lead them. Regardless of their issues, there was no way he would become a vampire. Their kind looked down on those with "impure" blood, and as far as humans that were turned into vampires? They were treated as lower than dog shit. He wasn't the most prideful of persons but he would never accept such low social standing.

Thus, there was only one real option left for him to take. Find a High-class Devil and offer his services to them in exchange for becoming one of their servants, at least until he reached High-class himself. Low-class Reincarnated Devils still had the issue of being treated like second-class citizens by the more fanatical, blood purist types of devils but at least he could move up in the Underworld's society. Some work here, a few victories there, a bit of political schmoozing later, and he'd be sitting pretty for the next couple of hundred years as a High-class Devil in his own right.

Only one problem barred the way; what devil would be desperate or insane enough to reincarnate some human that they had never met before? Even if he was in possession of a Longinus, he was an unknown factor in the supernatural world with no reputation or history to speak of, and his father had never made any attempts to contact any of the several Magician Associations so it wasn't as if he could fall back on his family name. For all the devil he asked knew, he could very well be the type to wait to be reincarnated, kill his new "master", and abscond with his freshly minted powers and body, free to do as he pleased. It wouldn't have been an especially rare event, devils even had a title for such people. Of course, Stray Devils – a terrible term in and of itself, to be honest. It made them sound like animals. At least allow them some dignity, even if they were typically nothing but traitorous and treacherous scum that turned on their masters for their own selfish desires. – also tended to be apprehended and summarily executed soon after their escape, with the only exception being someone by the name of Kuroka.

He had spent several months and a small fortune searching for information on the Underworld, its society, and any possible dirty secrets that would allow him to sway (or blackmail, if need be) a High-class Devil into turning him. His life had been put in danger several times, he had to travel out of town on occasion, and he had been required to come into contact with some of the scummiest individuals he'd ever met masquerading as information dealers, but he received exactly the type of info he had been looking for. He'd found the perfect devil to call upon, one that hailed from a family famous (or infamous, depending on who you asked) for the affection and care they showed their servants. And, hilariously enough, she had technically come to him, though neither of them had known it at the time.

Rias Gremory.

High-class, pureblooded, and daughter to the current head of the Gremory clan. She was arranged to wed the third son of the leader of the Phenex clan, as had been decided by their fathers before the girl had been born. She took umbrage with the arrangement, declaring that not only would she not marry the Phenex, she would see the contract broken one day. That hadn't gone over well with the other parties involved but it suited his purposes just fine. If she wanted to break the arrangement then that meant she would one day challenge Phenex to one of those barbaric "Rating Games" their kind were so fond of, despite being little more than modernized gladiator fights with magical powers, as the means to do it.

She'd lose, of course. Her "peerage", Chess-themed groups comprised of a High-class Devil and up to 15 other individuals, numbered in the low single digits while Phenex was in possession of a full set. Even if she managed to overcome the numbers advantage, she likely had no way of working past his regenerative abilities. Gremory was up a creek without a paddle, lacking both in numbers and the sheer power to crush the Phenex's faux-immortality beneath her heel, otherwise, she would have simply challenged him immediately and destroyed him. Instead, she had retreated to the human world (likely in the pursuit of bolstering her ranks), Japan to be specific, and there was talk that she was to marry him upon graduating from college.

"Ddraig, let's start using Boost now," Suimei said as he finished up drawing a perfect copy of the Gremory clan's crest in the center of the ritual circle. He focused what little mana he had to power the summon and brought his desires to the forefront of his mind. Ddraig would do the rest and provide what he was missing, he just needed to give things a jump start so that the girl knew he was calling her and no other. Just a little something to get the devil princess' attention, get her to stand up and take notice of his call.

 **[Alright, but don't forget that your body's in rough condition as is. Your limit's been drastically reduced, so don't even try to go over it. I don't think the Gremory girl will enjoy teleporting here and stepping in whatever's left of you if you explode.]**

"Got it. Try to keep an eye on my vitals. Would be a shame if I had a heart attack at the last minute. Though, I guess she can bring me back from it so that would be fine too? But then it'll take even longer to explain myself, and dying in such a lame way sounds like a pain..."

 **[Focus, kid.]**

"My bad. Whenever you're ready," the boy replied before doing as the dragon said, centering himself and refocusing his mind. There couldn't afford to be any mistakes at this point. Too much was riding on this, for both himself and the devil he was summoning.

That arranged marriage between Gremory and Phenex would not be happening.

 **[BOOST!]**

After all, she'd soon have the power of a dragon at her disposal.

 **[BOOST!]**

Dragons did not lose to preening peacocks that fashioned themselves immortal phoenixes.

 **[BOOST!]**

And besides, standing idly by while some girl, whether he knew her personally or not, was forced into a marriage she didn't want wasn't his style and would have gone against the ideals his dearly departed father had passed down to him.

 **[EXPLOSION!]**

"Showtime."

* * *

Rias Gremory was having a rough week.

Scratch that, she was having a rough _month._

First, she had to deal with that complete and utter bastard Riser making an unexpected visit, claiming he wanted to check up on his "soon-to-be wife". Just thinking those words made her skin crawl in disgust. Was it not bad enough that the date of their marriage was growing closer and closer by the day? Did he really have to drop by the human world, a place he vocally claimed to detest due to its "impure" and "disgusting" air, solely for the purpose of tormenting her? Yes, he did, because he was Riser Phenex and she was sure that that man existed solely for the purpose of trying to make her life as miserable as he could.

If that had been all then she could have dealt with it. She abhorred Riser with every fiber of her being but putting up with him was all she could do at the moment, at least until her peerage was ready and she could challenge him to a Rating Game to break the engagement their parents had set up. She lived to see the day where his pride would be crushed and driven into the dirt, even preparing a small speech for the exact moment when she'd blast his head off and retire him from the Game.

But no, her woes didn't end there because Sona had raided the entire school to gather those with the most potential and place them in her own peerage. Not just the high school division they were in but the college division as well! Granted, it wasn't as if she done it overnight, it had been a gradual process with more than enough time for Rias to respond in kind, she just hadn't for some reason. To this day Rias didn't know why exactly she had just stood to the side, doing nothing while her own choices slowly dwindled to zero. Was she expecting someone, some miracle, to just fall out of the sky and into her lap in a manner similar to the rest of her peerage members? Was she truly that naive?

Regardless, she had all but run out of options and was scrapping the bottom of the barrel now. Anyone that had even the slightest hint of potential, a connection to the supernatural, or the possibility of possessing a Sacred Gear was placed under observation. They all fell short of expectations for one reason or another but at this point, she really had no other choice than to pick at least a few of them and make do with what she had. There was still time to train them, to cultivate their talents before she graduated college. Her final year of high school and a maximum of four years of university, five total years to whip them into shape. Would it be enough? It would have to be.

Then finally, the cherry on top of the spiraling mess that was becoming her life, the Fallen Angels were moving about in her territory. Not openly, and they hadn't made any hostile moves as far as she was aware, but it was disconcerting. Akeno hadn't taken the news well, for obvious reasons, but thankfully she refrained from putting forth a suggestion like simply capturing them and grilling them for information as to what they were doing in a High-class Devil's territory. So long as the Fallen Angels did nothing to spark a conflict then Rias would leave them be.

So, here she sat, alone in her club room while the members of her peerage were off completing their various assignments for the evening. Her options were limited, her time even more so, and her hope was being eroded away to nothing. How in the world had she let things get this bad? She had come to Japan with several goals in mind, one of which was finding someone (or several someones) worth bringing to her side. Kuoh Town was practically a magnet when it came to attracting the supernatural and paranormal, and yet by the time she had finally decided to buckle down and go recruiting all the worthwhile prospects had been snatched up, either by other devils or separate factions entirely.

And now she was feeling a small tug on her demonic power, one that informed her that someone was trying to form a pact with a member of her peerage. She was half-tempted to ignore the call in her awful mood but something about it intrigued her. Whoever was performing the summoning had an incredible amount of desire and a substantial amount of power if they were calling upon her directly, a High-class, even if it was likely inadvertent. Something like that warranted her attention and who knows, maybe fulfilling a contract herself would be the change of pace she needed to break her out of her funk. It could possibly even give her an idea of how she should proceed going forward, and Satan knew she needed one.

* * *

When the light of the summoning died down, she took the time to observe her surroundings. She had been summoned to a dark room, someone's basement by the looks of things. Already not a good sign, and she was pretty sure this was how horror movies started.

That aside, what had truly caught her eye was when she gazed down and saw that someone hadn't used one of the flyers her familiar handed out to form a pact but instead had personally drawn their own summoning circle. Such knowledge, the art of summoning devils, was something all but lost to normal human beings. Had she been summoned by an eccentric with a strong fascination in the occult and wished to try their hand at calling upon an otherworldly being?

Rias heard a voice, a young man from the sound of it, speak from behind her. "Not bad, not bad. Got her on my first try too. And you said I'd fuck it up somehow, Ddraig. Shows how much you know." The unknown voice paused for a moment as though he were waiting for a response. "Oi, don't get snippy, you stupid dragon! I told you I'd get it right on the first try and I did!" Another pause. Who in the world was he speaking to? Dear Satan, had she really been summoned by someone insane? She really didn't need this right now. And what was that about a dragon? "So what if it took me a while to draw the circle? Would you have preferred I did it wrong and summoned somebody else?! Just shut up and go back to sleep if you're going to be an ass!"

The redheaded devil sighed and turned around slowly, prepared to defend herself. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight that greeted her. This boy, her summoner, couldn't have been older than she was, possibly even younger! He was wearing the Kuoh Academy student uniform as well, though he had discarded the blazer and ribbon that went around the collar, and was wearing a pair of (to her amusement) fuzzy blue slippers rather than the customary brown dress shoes. His build was slender, similar to Yuuto's, and he stood a few inches taller than her from her estimation, perhaps two or three inches at most. The black hair that sat atop his head was an unruly, unkempt mess, with side bangs that fell to his chin and a fringe that came down across his forehead before forking to the left just above the bridge of his nose. There was a smile on his face, one that spoke of immense satisfaction, and his dark eyes reflected the same emotion. What truly draw her attention was the red glove that went from his right hand up to his elbow. It exuded an aura of power that put her on edge.

 _'Is that a-'_

"Rias Gremory, Kuoh Academy's Number One Beauty, High-class Devil, heiress-apparent to the Gremory clan. My name is Yakagi Suimei and I am, as you can see," the boy raised his gauntlet-encased arm, his fist clenched tight as if to show off the green jewel set in the back of the gauntlet's hand, "in possession of the Boosted Gear, the Red Dragon Emperor's Gauntlet. That makes me this generation's Red Dragon Emperor. It's nice to finally meet you."

Rias mind froze, her eyes widening at his declaration. This guy, _he_ was the Red Dragon Emperor? Not only that, but he attended her school as well? And she hadn't somehow picked up on any of that, despite the fact that he had clearly manifested his Sacred Gear already?! On top of all this information, he knew what she was as well as her status. Just who in the hell was he?

"The reason I've summoned you here tonight is for a pact, one that will be mutually beneficial to both of us. I wish to enter your service and become a devil in your peerage. I believe 8 Pawn Pieces is the going rate for reincarnating a Heavenly Dragon, no?"

Huh.

That miracle she had been wanting really _did_ fall into her lap, just like that.

She was _so_ going to rub this in Sona's face the next time she saw her.

* * *

 **So, the stories in the DxD section** **are usually "OC/MC is dying due to Raynare/Stray devil/other circumstances and summons a devil to save their life inadvertently" so I just decided to put a spin on that; rather than Rias approaching OC/MC, flip that around and have him pushing her to make a deal instead by taking advantage of her hopeless situation.**

 **Going to also make this clear now, I don't know squat about medicine, illnesses, etc. I created a fictitious illness that can be likened to tuberculosis but isn't it exactly. Wanted to get that out there in case some med student, for whatever reason, reads this and gets pissed, which I wouldn't blame them for, to be honest. Best to cover my ass while I've still got time.**

 **And, just for my sake because I'm not too sure I explained it properly, here's a rough timeline for Suimei's life up to this point: lives as a normal human being (birth to 15 years old) → learns about the existence of magic and has his Sacred Gear summoned (15 years old) → father dies (16 years old) → contracts mysterious and fatal illness (16 years and X months old) → summons a devil (17 years old)**

 **Looking for a co-writer/beta/someone to bounce ideas off of 'cause I'm winging this shit so hard you'd think I was a Fallen Angel. Review and leave feedback if you want to see more.**


	2. Chapter 2

Suimei groaned in discomfort and shifted in, what he assumed to be, his bed, rolling over and reaching out to shove his face into his pillow to try and ignore his phone telling him to get up and greet the day by vibrating noisily on his desk. Gripping the cushion tightly around its middle, he held it close against his body and squeezed as he waited for the phone to switch to Snooze Mode for another five minutes. The very idea of doing anything before 12 PM at the earliest should have been either abolished or met with public ridicule, in his highly esteemed personal opinion. People would be so much more productive if they spent the entire morning sleeping in rather than forcing themselves out of the comfort of their beds, and the less said about those freaks of nature known as "morning people", the better. Damn peppy bastards and their limitless energy.

Putting those thoughts out of his mind, his pillow this morning felt softer for some reason. Smelled different too, now that he took a moment to breathe. It wasn't unpleasant, more a surprise than anything considering he didn't use products like scented fabric softeners (especially not ones that smelled so fruity and sweet) so there was no reason for his pillowcase to have such a fragrance to it. If that didn't set off a warning bell in his brain, the fact that he could feel (and hear) his pillow breathing certainly did.

This wasn't his pillow, was it? He was going to open his eyes and there was going to be a girl in a state of undress in his bed, wasn't he? No, of course not. Such things only happened in those stupid harem anime series that Motohama wouldn't stop recommending to him, despite his constant insistence that he didn't have the time for such activities (a complete lie, he absolutely did and inevitably wound up watching most of them anyway if for no other reason than to talk about them with his friends).

And yet, when he did finally open his eyes, he was greeted by a curtain of crimson red. He idly noted that he hadn't been hiding his face in his pillow but in someone's soft and silky hair. Releasing his hold on whoever it was that he had been using as a makeshift pillow, he sat and up and leaned over to get a look at their face. He hid his surprise well upon realizing he had been cuddling in his sleep with one of his school's idols, not wanting to disturb her rest or make an ass out of himself with some overblown and over the top reaction like leaping out of bed or screaming at the top of his lungs. Instead, he did what any normal teenager would do in his situation; lean back, lay down, stare at the ceiling of his bedroom, calmly assess the situation, and consult the magical dragon sealed in the gauntlet that was housed in his soul.

Just business as usual.

 _'Ddraig.'_

He was greeted by silence. Dammit, now was not the time for this. Suimei could readily admit that he avoided mornings like the plague whenever possible but Ddraig took it to another level, resting for sometimes _days_ at a time. Truth be told, he somewhat envied the dragon for having such a luxury. If he could sleep that long without troublesome issues like dealing with his impending death he gladly would have.

 _'Oi, Red Welsh! Wake up!'_

 **[What?]** Ddraig grumbled, half-asleep himself. Dragons, even just the soul of one, needed rest too, you know. Especially when their hosts kept trying to use them as a built-in life monitor and part-time life counselor. He was one-half of the Heavenly Dragons, an existence that boasted strength enough to shatter the planet itself through sheer brute force alone, not a therapist. **[Do you know how early it is? I'm trying to sleep here.]**

 _'Yeah, that's great, I'm happy for you. What the hell happened last_ _night?'_ Suimei paused for a moment before lifting the covers and checking something. Yep, just as he suspected. Naked as the day he was born. Rias as well, if the sight of her bare ass was telling him anything, or at least anything that wasn't just the fact that the girl had a very nice derriere. He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts quickly. Now was not the time for letting his hormones dictate his actions, he needed to focus on the conversation and not the naked girl in his bed, and he _really_ needed to stop staring before she woke up. She might be one of those _"Kyaa~, you saw me naked, now I have to hit you!"_ types of chicks and he didn't need that in his life this early in the morning. He caught enough of that secondhand from Motohama and Matsuda's various escapades in spying on the female sports clubs at school while they were changing. _'And you wouldn't happen to know why I was spooning with a devil in the nude, would you?'_

 **[You don't remember?]** Before Suimei could make a smart aleck remark on how if he remembered he wouldn't have been asking Ddraig anything in the first place, the dragon carried on. **[You and the she-devil spent the night trying to talk the other to death, you nearly ruined everything several times, and then she turned you into a devil. Congratulations on that, by the way. From what I can tell, you're no longer ill and whatever that girl did last night after reincarnating you repaired a significant amount of damage done to your body. I'm going back to sleep. Try to not die in the meantime.]**

The freshly minted Reincarnated Devil blinked in surprise as he felt Ddraig's presence in his mind fade out before taking a deep breath, then exhaling. In, out, in, out, several times. His lungs weren't screaming at him to stop doing that and he wasn't coughing up blood yet either so it seemed there was some truth to Ddraig's words. There was still a fair bit of discomfort in his chest but, for the first time in ages, he felt pretty good. He had almost forgotten what it felt like to be healthy, or at least close to it if the dragon was right about not being at one-hundred percent just yet. Of course, none of this explained why he and his house guest were going au naturel.

Bringing a hand to his forehead after carefully lowering the cover back down, he closed his eyes and thought. Last night, how had that meeting gone and why did it lead to him being stripped naked?

* * *

Suimei stood awkwardly, still posed with his fist clenched and arm raised. He estimated that at least a minute had passed since Rias had responded, and he was using that word loosely at this point, to his call. A good, solid minute of nothing but pure silence, the two of them just staring at one another, her in confusion and him waiting for her to make the first move. The confident smile on his face was beginning to waver as he continued to wait for Rias to say something, do something, just respond in any way to his declaration of wishing to join her peerage. Anything to kill the dead air at this point would have been fine. Did he come on too strong? Maybe he should have started with something lighter than dropping several bombs on her all at once.

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

He sighed disappointedly as his smile finally fell. Of all the things she could have asked, did it really have to be that? This wasn't going to sound anywhere near as impressive the second time around, and it certainly wouldn't be as impactful either. There went his entire day of planning out the perfect introduction. "Yakagi Suimei, second-year student, part-time Magician, current Red Dragon Emperor," he replied in a significantly less enthusiastic tone as he let his arm fall back to his side, uncaring of the fact that he was casually letting slip another shocking revelation by revealing that he was a practitioner of magic and sorcery. She was going to find out by the end of the night regardless, best they get it out of the way now so they could move onto the more important matters.

 **[Shouldn't you be taking this a bit more seriously? Your life's hanging in the balance here. If she refuses-]**

 _'And why would she do that? Who else is she going to recruit? Is the Vanishing Dragon finally going to show itself by falling out of the sky and into her lap too?' That'd be a laugh. Maybe he and I can fight to the death over who gets to be Rias' Pawn, get our predetermined deathmatch out of the way nice and early so I can relax without that looming over my head for a while.'_

Ddraig snorted. When his host set his mind on something, even if it was something stupid, trying to change it had about as much effect as trying to convince an Evil Dragon that not _every_ conflict needed to be resolved with bloodshed. Best to just let the boy go about things on his terms while he got some well-deserved rest. The kid had been keeping him awake the entire previous week, firing off question after question on everything the dragon knew about the Underworld and devils so as to better prepare himself for his meeting and it was exhausting. It had only been by entering an almost hibernation-like state and shutting his partner out that he finally got the human to stop pestering him about every little thing, from actually important matters like whether or not the plan would work to inane and idiotic questions like what type of clothes he should wear to make the best first impression possible. He was willing to help his host when possible but even the Heavenly Dragon had a limit to how much it could take.

 **[Fine, do it your way. Better hope she has a taste for annoying, know-it-all brats.]**

 _'Rude.'_

"And you want to become a devil?" Rias asked hesitantly, making sure she had heard him correctly while she was still trying to get a handle on the situation. This was far out of her comfort zone, none of the lessons she had been given as a child ever prepared her for a situation where she would be approached for a request to join her peerage rather than the other way around. She wasn't supposed to be on the defensive, that wasn't how this worked! The young heiress was tempted to accept him, no questions asked, but just barely refrained from giving in to that temptation. She should at least do a basic questioning and figure out how much he knew, especially if he was proclaiming himself a magician on top of everything else.

Suimei took a deep breath and sighed again, doing his best to pay no mind to the feeling of pain emanating from his chest after the act as his lungs ached. Just another lovely little gift his illness had left for him, this chronic pain when he pushed himself too far (or at least too far for his current state). And to top it off, he could all but taste a long talk coming on. Wonderful, just fantastic. Taxing his already overworked body even further, that was just what he needed. Why couldn't it be as simple as Rias just honoring his request, turning him into a devil, and then leaving him to his own devices for the rest of the night? Not everything needed to be some long and drawn out discussion, but he supposed it was only fair to indulge her curiosity considering he was the one making the request.

"That's what I'm asking, yes. You've got the Pieces to reincarnate me, don't you? Or should I summon up someone else?" he asked, bluffing hard. There was nobody else he could summon, at least no one that he wanted to serve under. Sona Sitri, or Shitori Souna as she went by at school, was the only other High-class in Kuoh at the moment (that he knew of, at least). And considering his penchant for avoiding going to class and sleeping when he actually did show up, being an accomplice to the perverted shenanigans his friends got up to, and a laundry list of other minor offenses and instances of rule-breaking, he doubted their personalities would mesh too well.

Besides, that glasses girl was way too strict. No doubt she'd force him to clean up his act soon after reincarnating him, and he much rather preferred to stay set in his ways. No need to fix what isn't broken, after all. He was already taking a chance that Rias would be much laxer and not try to affix a leash and collar around his neck. He was in the market for a King that would give him room to breathe and not try to change him, forcibly or otherwise.

"No!" Rias cried out in a panic. She had already lost too many opportunities to let another just walk away from her, especially when it was all but offering itself up willingly to her. If she let this chance pass her by too then she might as well throw away any hopes of fighting against Riser. "I'm just trying to understand all of this. This isn't usually how these things tend to go. Being summoned by such an old-fashioned ritual is weird enough, but this type of request isn't exactly normal either."

The dark-haired boy had to refrain from smirking at her words. Yes, this ritual certainly was "old-fashioned". That was the point. How do you catch a devil princess' attention? A relatively simple question and yet the choices were varied, each with their own pros and cons.

Do you approach her at school and possibly make a scene? No, of course not. That carried the risk of drawing too much attention from her devoted fanbase due to the fact that they didn't run in the same sorts of social circles, and the fact that she'd likely be surrounded by her fellow clubmates made the possibility of a private conversation all but impossible. The only real positive it carried was that if talks went south for whatever reason she'd be unlikely to try and attack him out of fear of exposing her true identity and inadvertently causing some collateral damage. Still, to just go up and talk to her out of the blue was too sudden, too confrontational, and would cause too many issues down the line. Besides, that was just so damn _boring._ Not his style at all.

Do you summon her using the "modern" method of using one of those flyers her familiar passes out? Nope, that wouldn't do either. It would be easier, sure, but at what cost? This way of doing things was even more boring than the first, so run of the mill, so damned _ordinary._ No devil worth their wings would be impressed by such a mundane summons. Why would they be? Such things were the norm for them. The only thing that would have grabbed Rias' attention with such a ritual would have been the mana he used to power the summon and his incredible amount of desire. Once she saw the flyer she'd probably assume that it was just some small oddity and write it off before he got the chance to explain himself properly and that was unacceptable to him. He wanted, _needed_ , her full and undivided attention from the get-go. His goal was to market himself in such a way that left her hanging off of his every last word, and he couldn't get that kind of reaction playing it safe.

Do you spend an ungodly (no pun intended) amount of hours creating your own personal summoning ceremony, blending together several of those "old-fashioned" rituals so as to specifically summon a devil from one of the 72 pillar families, then use your mystical god-slaying gauntlet to increase your power to the point that aforementioned devil princess can't help but notice you? _Yes._ No other choice was suitably impressive or grand enough for the night of the forfeiture of his status as a human being. The only way he could have made it _more_ attention-grabbing was if he had followed the instructions for one of the rites to the letter and performed an actual human sacrifice. He had skipped that particularly gruesome step and substituted the fluctuations of mana from a person on death's doorstep with his own mana enhanced several times over by way of Boosted Gear, feeling that his audience wouldn't be particularly receptive to the idea of teleporting into his basement and seeing a dead body. A fresh corpse didn't necessarily lend itself to the message of _"Please be calm and hear me out, I'm a trustworthy and totally sane individual"_.

"The ritual's a little something of my own creation, to summon a devil of House Gremory and no one else. See, I wanted to talk to you specifically."

"And why is that?" Rias asked guardedly. She wasn't unused to people trying to interact with her for the purpose of taking advantage of her position, both as the heiress-apparent to the Gremory household and as the sister of the current Lucifer, but she typically only encountered such people during those dreadful galas and other social gatherings she was made to attend due to her status.

"You and I have something in common, in that we both need someone else to give us what we want. It's like this; I want to live a full life where I'm free to pursue my ambitions and interests, and you, Rias Gremory, your wish is very much in the same vein as that. We're similar in that regard if nothing else. The _difference_ between us," he took a small step forward and smiled when Rias didn't so much as flinch, standing tall and proud as he felt her demonic power rising to the surface in the off-chance he made a move to attack her, "is that there's nobody trying to stuff me in a wedding dress and walk me down the aisle."

Rias felt the blood freeze in her veins as she went stiff as a board. He knew? He _knew!_ How? While it wasn't any sort of secret in the Underworld, due in part to the fact that Riser's constant bragging about the arrangement their parents had agreed to would have made any attempt at keeping it quiet pointless, there shouldn't have been any way for this human boy to know, unless he had a connection to the Underworld. Just how much did he know about her? Who had sent him? How had he flown under the radar for as long as he had without her ever noticing something was off? Was he some sort of spy and this was all a ploy to get closer to her, the sister of Lucifer? Rias mind raced as she frantically tried to put together all the pieces of the dark-haired human's identity.

"A blessing too, truth be told. I would look just awful in a dress," Suimei continued with a laugh and a shake of his head, paying close attention to the way Rias' cerulean eyes had widened in shock at the knowledge that he was aware of her engagement. If the ritual hadn't gotten her attention then this chat certainly did the job. "I just can't see cross-dressing as something that would agree with me. And the heels, don't even get me started on trying to walk in those. Might as well set me up in a pair of stilts and see how well it goes. I much prefer a typical black tux for those kinds of events. Please keep that in mind when you send me an invitation to your ceremony." Suimei adopted a faux-contemplative look now before smiling widely once more. "Unless you plan on trying to set me up with one of your bridesmaids, of course. Do devils have bridesmaids? I really don't have any idea how a marriage ceremony in Hell goes, you'll have to explain it to me sometime."

"There's not going to be any ceremony," Rias snapped, unintentionally putting her anger and frustration on full display but she was past the point of caring. She should have known better than to get her hopes up. "I refuse to marry that man. I don't know who you are or whether or not your summoning is some sort of sick game Riser is playing but I've had enough. I'm leaving," she said with finality, focusing her mana in creating a magic circle with which to teleport back to her clubhouse as she spun on her heel and moved to put some space between herself and the human. Rias had to give it to her disgusting fiancee, this was truly an inventive way of twisting the knife. Deceiving her by making her believe there might be a light at the end of the tunnel, how creative of him. She'd make sure to repay the humiliation she was feeling a hundred times over in their next unfortunate meeting.

"Ah, come on, relax. It was just a joke," the boy said, internally panicking just slightly when he grabbed the devil's arm in an attempt to stop her, or at least interrupt the concentration needed to teleport out of his house. Damn him and his ever-present need to push other people's buttons. This wasn't the first time his provocateur nature had reared its ugly head and caused issues. Maybe Ddraig had a point in saying he should be taking this more seriously. "Look, I'm sorry, alright? I'm not connected to the Phenex family in any way. It was rude of me to make light of your problems. I won't do it again, promise," he said, trying to quickly make amends with what might be one of his last few chances at keeping his life.

 **[A life which may not be much longer if she storms off. Was it really necessary to anger her? Can you stop being yourself for five minutes, act as though you're normal, and get the she-devil to save your life? Is that asking too much?]**

Ouch. Even the dragon in his head - arm, technically, but same difference - was scolding him. Not that the Red Welsh was wrong on any level. Poking fun at an issue that was no doubt weighing heavily on the devil girl's mind was rather heartless, even by his standards. He was just throwing in a few jokes to lighten the otherwise gloomy and depressing reality that, if she did nothing, Rias would be the bride of the third son of the Phenex's current head. Probably could have used more tact. Or just not said it at all, that could have worked too. Yet another case of his mouth getting him into trouble. He really needed to work on that.

Rias turned back around, throwing his arm off of her and affixing Suimei with a sharp look. "My future is not the punchline to some joke and I would appreciate it if you didn't treat it as such," she replied coldly. "And why should I believe anything you say? I don't know anything about you other than your name, you attend Kuoh Academy, you supposedly practice magic, and you're in possession of the Boosted Gear. Why should I accept such a suspicious person into my peerage?"

"If you wanted to get to know me all you had to do was ask," he responded in a mock flirting tone, a smile tugging at his lips as he tried to regain control of the situation by, once again, making a joke. The fact that screwing around had gotten him into this precarious situation in the first place didn't seem to fully register with him, or if it did he forgot as quickly as he realized it, until Rias' responded by rolling her eyes and turning to leave again, clearly not amused by his antics. The grin dropped off of his face in an instant. "Wait, no, don't leave! I'll be serious, okay? Just gimme one last chance to explain. After that, you can decide on what you want to do, and if you want to leave I won't stop you."

" _One_ chance," the redhead warned as she glared into his dark eyes. Her patience had already been running thin before she answered this summons to form a pact and he wasn't improving her mood by acting so flippant. That said, he did appear genuine in his apology and promise to stop messing around. For that, she'd offer him the chance he asked for. If he continued to act a fool then she'd leave, Longinus or no Longinus. She'd answered his call to form a contract, not to be taunted and poked at by the boy's failed attempts at humor. "Why did you call me? Why do you want to become a devil?"

"It's not a want, it's a _need._ I _need_ to become a devil, because if I'll die if I don't."

"Is this another joke?"

"I said I'd stop with that, didn't I? I'm being serious right now."

"Is someone threatening you? Are you being coerced into this?"

Suimei made a noncommittal shrug. "My circumstances are forcing my hand more than anything, to be perfectly honest. That said, I'm making this pact of my own free will. No one's got a gun pointed at my head and whispering into my ear that if I don't do this they'll blow my brains out," he spoke honestly. He hadn't wanted to tell Rias of this until the very end, once they'd come to an agreement, but if tipping his hand a bit earlier than he would have liked would convince her that he was being serious then so be it. Who knows, maybe the fact that he was dying would garner some sympathy.

It wasn't as if she could use it as leverage over him, threatening that unless he agreed to do every little thing she requested she wouldn't turn him. If his illness spread to the point that he was beyond help then he'd die a relatively quick death and that would be that. Rias, on the other hand, would have to suffer as a victim of a political marriage for the rest of her life, and devils lived a _long_ time. Between dying young and being satisfied that he'd at least exhausted all of his options but still going to the grave with unfulfilled wishes and dreams or continuing to live a long and possibly fruitful life but only as the bride of (from what he'd heard of Riser Phenex) a temperamental, arrogant, entitled manchild and expected to not only put up with him but bear his children whenever possible, it'd be hard to decide a winner (or was it loser?) in a competition between which end was more miserable.

That wasn't even mentioning the fact that, if he fully set aside his pride and personal wishes, he could go to any other devil in the Underworld with an open slot on their peerage, offer his service, and likely be accepted without a second thought. He'd summoned Rias out of convenience and the belief that they would mesh well enough to not step on each other's toes, but the fact of the matter was that she needed him more than he needed her.

Before Rias could ask what he meant by his 'circumstances', he decided to elaborate. "I'll give you the short version, but it basically boils down to the fact that I'm sick, and it's getting worse every day. Doctors can't treat it with medicine and other magicians can't fix it with healing spells. Whatever I've got hasn't slowed down despite all the meds the former's put me on and the only thing the latter can do is try to fix up some of the damage being done to my body. A temporary solution to a permanent, looking to be terminal, problem."

 _'Damn expensive too,'_ he thought with no small amount of bitterness. Magicians didn't offer their services for free, especially not the ones that were well-versed in healing. It was almost funny in a way that if one were to peel back all the mystique of magic and the awe-inspiring acts one could accomplish with it they would see that the practitioners of the arcane arts ran things much like any other business. A business that had been steadily eating a hole in his bank account before he realized that their treatments weren't working. And magicians had a strict "no refunds" policy on their work. Damn scam artists. For all the good their magic did him they might as well been sideshow acts in carnivals, pulling rabbits out of top hats.

Suimei took a moment to catch his breath. "As things are, I'm not going to make it to the end of the year, and that's in the best case scenario. You get it now, right? You get why I need to become a devil?"

"Devils are immune to human sicknesses. The moment I reincarnate you, your body will fight off whatever illness you have," Rias said, eyeing the human with equal parts suspicion and sympathy. If what he was saying was true then it was rather sad. A boy no older than she was and yet he was being forced into making a life-altering decision that would have consequences for as long as he lived. He was backed into a corner and looking for any way out. In a way, she could relate. "Can I have some time to think this over?" she asked. As eager as the heiress was to recruit someone powerful into her peerage she still needed to think this through, maybe talk things out with Akeno and get her opinion on this situation as well.

"Nope," he replied flatly. "This deal's only up for however long you decide to stay here. You leave, I'm summoning somebody else, and I'll keep calling devils until one of you takes my offer. For all I know, I might not even wake up tomorrow morning. This is happening tonight, one way or another," the dark-haired youth said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. Truth be told, he wasn't sure he had it in him to go for another summon this evening. He was already exhausted, pushing himself further would be detrimental to his already shoddy health. But at this point, what did it matter? There were no other roads left for him to take.

"If you can't believe my motives or if you just think I'm outright full of shit and trying to play the sympathy card, then let me put it in a different way." Suimei adjusted his posture and stood perfectly straight as his expression became dead serious, looking into Rias' eyes as he brought up a clenched fist and placed it over his heart. "I, Yakagi Suimei, born in Kuoh Town, a second-generation magician, and this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, wish to toss aside my humanity and accept a role as your Pawn. My life, my present and future, the gauntlet upon my arm with the power to slay even the gods themselves, I will leave all of it in your possession. Your goals, your dreams, your ambitions, I will shed every drop of blood and sweat needed to see them realized. All I ask in return is to never be made to feel regret for these words. For that, I will put my life in your hands. This life that would otherwise burn away too early and too quickly to accomplish anything of value or worth, will you accept it, Rias Gremory?"

His tone was calm, serene even, but carried with it a feeling of passion and strength. He was swearing an oath, a promise to see Rias' goals to the end, whatever they may be even after the business with Riser was finished. Rias' fights, her struggles, he would accept all of them and bear them upon his shoulders. That was the duty of a Pawn. The Queen to be the right hand and confidant of the King, the Knight to serve as the King's sword, the Rook as the King's shield, the Bishop to support the King, and the Pawn to bear the King's burdens and hardships, to be the first on the battlefield and to never leave until the King's will was carried out.

Rias stood in shock, eyes wide as his speech truly sank in. The things he had said, not only was it akin to an oath of fealty, his words resonated with something inside of her. This young man was dedicating everything towards her and whatever cause she might one day back. Of all the things she had expected on this night, it hadn't been this. She couldn't say no. She didn't _want_ to say no. Yakagi Suimei, this human boy that otherwise seemed to speak so casually and without a single care in the world, his words had cut through her doubts and reached her.

"I, Rias Gremory, born in Lilith, the Crimson-Haired Ruin Princess and heiress-apparent to the Gremory family, will accept your wish. Your present, your future, I promise you a grand and wonderful life as my single Pawn. I will never return your advice with disdain. I will never meet your suggestions with scorn. I will never look upon your concerns with silence. If you are to sweat and bleed in my name, on my behalf, then I will repay such a debt with my own sweat and blood. Even if there should come a time where the entire world rejects Yakagi Suimei and declares you its enemy, I will stand as your King and defend you. Your life that would otherwise come to an end far too soon, I will accept it gladly."

Suimei's solemn expression cracked as a smile tugged on his lips. Without another word, he unclenched the fist over his heart and extended his hand to Rias.

The devil took it without hesitation.

* * *

Suimei opened his eyes and was greeted once more by the sight of his bedroom's ceiling. He had nodded off a touch while busy recalling the previous night's events. His speech had been perfectly planned and practiced for several nights prior, going over the exact words to speak not to Rias Gremory's mind but to her heart directly. A person's mind could be suspicious, doubtful, untrustworthy even in the case of being told the absolute truth and nothing else. A person's heart was far more honest. And yet, Rias returning his vow with one of her own hadn't been something he accounted for. He had been expecting her to accept it, eager to have a Longinus within her ranks, and nothing more than that. Instead, she went above and beyond, swearing to match him in his efforts to see her goals come to fruition. An odd girl, but it left him with the feeling that he had chosen his King correctly.

Such feelings aside, the events that followed after their exchange of words worried him. He remembered laying down on the concrete floor as Rias called upon her own magic circle as its red glow illuminated the room, the weight of her 8 Pawn Pieces before they sank into his chest, a brief moment of perfect clarity where he could feel his body and soul change, and then nothing after that.

"So why the hell are we both naked? Do I need to call the police?" he muttered under his breath, uncomfortable with the idea of blank spots in his memory, especially at such an important time in his life.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't." The former human turned his head to the left and locked eyes with Rias, who was staring back at him with an amused grin. While he had been busy trying to remember everything that had led to his current situation, the buxom redhead had long since woken up and spent the past few minutes waiting for him to take notice. "Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"It was alright. Waking up at all is something I've learned not to take for granted," he commented, ignoring his heart trying to hammer its way out of his chest. It was one thing to take notice of the naked girl that was in your bed under unknown circumstances, actually talking to her and holding a normal conversation despite the distinctly abnormal situation was something else entirely. But, despite all odds, he managed to play it cool. Or at least as cool as you can get as a teenager. Which, according to Ddraig, wasn't very cool at all. "You know, taking advantage of your servants is bad. I know that I'm cute and vulnerable but you shouldn't abuse the power you have over me. In the future, please ask in advance before doing lewd things with my body, even if I'm unconscious."

Rias laughed in response before deciding to explain. It wouldn't do for him to get the wrong idea, both of her and their current position. "After you passed out, the dragon in your Sacred Gear spoke and informed me that your body was still in bad condition even after fighting off your illness. So, I put you to bed and spent the night healing you."

"Without clothes on? You certainly have an odd way of using magic. Don't let me stop you though."

"I don't know any healing spells. The only method I have available works through skin contact, and it only works with members of my household. Nothing else happened."

"Skin-on-skin healing with demonic power? That's suspiciously convenient, especially considering Ddraig doesn't like talking to people, not even me. I think my new King is just a pervert that saw an opportunity and took it."

"You're currently staring at my chest, Suimei. If anything, I should be worried that my new Pawn is the perverted one."

Suimei let his eyes wander from his position of staring at Rias' exposed breasts, deciding that they were likely real and not the work of cosmetic surgery or illusionary magic, back to her face. He was, all other descriptors and titles aside, just a teenage boy. A teenage boy with two close friends that talked primarily about women and their incredible bodies. It was only natural for their own perverse natures to rub off on him a little. "Let's just agree that we're both perverts and let bygones be bygones," he said before sitting up, groaning when he felt several of his joints pop and crack back into place before swinging his legs off the bed and putting his feet on the ground.

"I can't agree with that at all."

The Pawn cast a look over his shoulder, smirking at the pout that had formed on Rias' face at being labeled a pervert. Pushing her buttons was going to be such a fun time if something like this was enough to rile her up. This little "healing session" of hers might even be a repeat performance and provide him with more ammo, considering he still wasn't firing on all cylinders. Regularly sharing a bed with one of the most sought-after girls in the school, who knew that would be a perk to becoming a devil? With any luck, he'd be awake next time, at least for long enough to enjoy his position. But, until then-

"So, how do you like your breakfast?"

* * *

 **You might be wondering why this took so long to be put up. The answer is that I rewrote this chapter five times, and even now I'm still not entirely satisfied. That said, if I keep trying to get it "right" I'm going to start pulling my hair out and we're never going to make it to the real meat of the story and the parts I'm dying to write, so here you go. Early DxD is slow as molasses, in my opinion, and while I hope to not be as much of a glacier as canon is/was, I still gotta do character development and all that jazz, especially considering my MC is an OC.**

 **Anyways, 44 followers, 29 favorites, 7 reviews. Not bad for my first foray into writing and I'm thankful to receive such a positive reception. If you've got questions shoot 'em to me in a PM or a review and I'll answer it in the next A/N. I'll answer just about anything, so long as it isn't too spoilerish. I got one (that I didn't answer in a PM) for the first chapter so I'll give an answer here: yes, the pairing is planned to be a harem. Wouldn't really be DxD without it, but I don't intend on making it absurdly and ridiculously huge. Even canon DxD's got too big (again, in my opinion).**

 **See you next chapter. Leave reviews if you want to, and thanks in advance.**


	3. Chapter 3

Suimei smiled when yet another passerby took a flyer from his outstretched hand, uttering a small thanks out of appreciation as the man continued on his way to wherever he was headed off to. For as much as he would have preferred to not endure this sort of menial labor, he could at least appreciate the fact that it wasn't particularly difficult or tiring. Handing out these leaflets was as simple as standing around in a busy area, putting on his most charming smile, and keeping his hand out. The fact that he was doing it at night was a plus. No sun beating down on him, wearing him out and stealing his energy. Just an evening spent under the watchful eye of the stars. No fuss, no muss, and no complaints to be had.

Well, maybe _one_ complaint, in that Rias had doubled his workload for the evening after his actions the previous night. He had told her flat-out that he wasn't feeling up for handing out flyers, that he wanted to leave a bit earlier than normal to rest, and that he'd just make up for it on his next run. Her response had been to chastise him for trying to shirk his responsibilities (which, in all fairness, he had been doing that a lot since his reincarnation, but this time was legit!) and usher him out the door with a stack of flyers, telling him that he wasn't going to get out of his responsibilities that easily.

His mature, responsible, and purely adult reaction to having his wishes ignored had been to throw all of his flyers into a dumpster on campus, go home, shoot Rias a text message saying that he had completed his work for the evening before turning off his phone, and then pass out asleep in the comfort of his own bed.

That little act of defiance went over about as well as a lead balloon. On the bright side, the messages she had sent him throughout that night while he had been sleeping left him cracking up anytime he looked at them, especially the next morning when he turned on his phone and laughed so hard he worried that he had sold his soul for nothing because he was going to laugh himself to death in that moment. For as mature and dignified as Rias liked to present herself as in person, her numerous replies told a different story entirely. It was almost kind of cute, watching the gradual breakdown of "Rias Gremory, the composed and proud heiress-apparent of the Gremory family" into "Rias, the very frustrated teenage girl" over the course of, if the timestamps were to be believed, thirty minutes.

 _How did you finish so quickly? What did you do?_

 _Hello?_ _Did you get my last message?_

 _Are you okay? Did something happen? I'm starting to worry._

 _Suimei, stop ignoring my messages. It's not as funny as you think it is._

 _You're being really childish right now. Just because you're upset that I didn't let you leave early doesn't mean you should act so immaturely. Aren't you too old to be giving people the silent treatment?_

 _Just answer and I'll stop texting you!_

 _Stop being stubborn and pick up the phone!_

 _STOP IGNORING ME!_

 _HELLO?!_

 _IS YOUR PHONE EVEN ON?!_

 _If you don't answer right now I'm going to assume the worst and send everyone out to look for you. This is your last warning, Suimei. I hope you're alright._

 _Nevermind._

 _Akeno found your flyers in the garbage._

 _You and I are going to have a serious talk tomorrow._

Just thinking about it got him giggling like a loon, earning himself odd looks from a few pedestrians that then made a point of walking very quickly past him without taking a flyer or making eye contact. Not that he could blame them, he probably looked like a madman laughing to himself over seemingly nothing, but he couldn't help it.

 _'So worth the hour-long lecture,'_ Suimei thought to himself between snickers. Rias had thoroughly chewed him out over his irresponsible actions, making her worry that he had been attacked or even kidnapped by the fallen angels that were still loitering in her territory, not completing his duties correctly and giving her a headache, how he needed to take things more seriously, and a whole list of other subjects that went in one ear and out the other. So he threw his flyers out once (that Rias knew of), it wasn't as if the world was ending. Making contracts was, to his understanding, the slowest method of moving up in rank so his taking a night off to relax shouldn't have been an issue.

A shame that Rias hadn't seen it that way before dropping a shopping basket with several stacks of flyers in it onto his lap. Still, this ridiculous workload she had given him as punishment wouldn't dampen his good mood. There was no better revenge than taking someone's punishment and letting them simmer and stew in anger as they realized it had no effect. And, in a way, he supposed it was somewhat nice to have someone worry about his well-being again. Even if it was solely based in self-interest, as he'd be no value to Rias if he was rotting in the ground, the thought that someone wanted him around was enough for him. Everyone wanted to be wanted and he was no different in that regard.

 **[You're certainly in high spirits lately.]**

Suimei got himself under control as his laughter stopped and he resumed handing out the leaflets to anyone that would take them, which was significantly less than before due to his impromptu "show". _'Should I not be?'_ he asked. _'Wasn't that long ago that I had my death certificate all but signed and ready to be stamped. Now I'm looking at a good couple of centuries, possibly over a millennium if I play my cards right, of living. I've got all the time in the world. I'd say that's cause for celebration, wouldn't you?'_

 **[And the slacking off in your training regiment?]**

The devil shrugged before giving an enthusiastic thanks and grateful smile when someone took another flyer from his hand. _'Don't want to take the risk of pushing my body too hard just yet. Rias' healing is fixing up not just the damage from when I was sick but all the wear and tear I put myself through before that too. You don't take your car to the repair shop and go drag racing through the streets right after, you know?'_

 **[...That analogy was terrible for an astonishing amount of reasons, the first of which being-]**

 _'Forget it, Big Red,'_ Suimei thought with a sigh, ignoring Ddraig's grumblings on how he wished his current possessor wouldn't address him by such an absurd moniker. _'Point is, I'll let Rias work her magic on me for a bit longer before I start putting myself through my paces. I still need to adjust my spells anyway so there's no real_ _rush.'_

He scowled at the thought of reworking his entire arsenal of spells, his mood taking a turn for the worse as he thought about how devils went about using magic. _'These devils and their system of magic, it really pisses me off. No matter how much I press Rias for information she can't tell me anything more than I already know. Utilizing both the_ "power of imagination" _as well as grasping the_ "ability to create" _and yet it's a system built upon solely those principles and intent of the user, nothing else. It shouldn't even function on a minor scale! And yet, despite that, it clearly works! How? How the hell can such a half-baked system exist? How the hell hasn't the Underworld just exploded?!'_

 **[Are you actually asking me or are you just airing your grievances over coming across something you can't understand?]**

 _'Yes.'_

Ddraig chuckled. His host always got like this when faced with something he couldn't comprehend, especially when it pertained to magic. For as much as he liked to laugh at that redheaded she-devil's show of immaturity, he was, in some ways, just as bad himself. **[Just use your old system of magic then. If anything it should receive a boost in strength thanks to the potency of demonic power over a normal human being's mana reserves.]**

"Suimei?"

The dark-haired young man's eyes darted to the source of the voice calling his name, cutting the mental conversation between himself and Ddraig short before he could go further in-depth as to why he couldn't just snap his fingers and work his magic like he used to with his usual practiced ease. His soul changing from human to devil had caused the nature of his mana itself to change, meaning the control he had previously wielded had dropped significantly. Using any of his high-level spells could very well backfire or outright kill him, taking them off the table entirely at the current moment.

Regardless of his magic-related troubles, he had something new to deal with now as he made eye contact with Motohama and Matsuda, both having had spotted him and were now crossing the street to approach as they stared at him in bewilderment. In their hands were several plastic bags that, if his enhanced night vision (courtesy of becoming a devil, just another perk of the job) was correct, were filled to the brim with things like various bags of potato chip bags and other assorted snack foods.

"What are you doing?" Motohama asked as the two of them walked over to him. "You get a job?" he inquired as he bent over to pick a flyer out of the basket, setting down his bags to do so, before Suimei could stop him. He spent a few moments looking it over before passing it off to Matsuda, who looked at it with just as much confusion as his glasses-wearing companion.

"It's club business. Give that back before you hurt yourselves."

"Club business? Oh, right, you joined Rias-senpai's Occult Research Club," Matsuda said, ignoring Suimei's request. "But what does wish-granting have to do with the occult? Or passing out flyers, for that matter? Is this some sort of recruitment tactic? Do you grant people's wishes and then they sell you their soul?" he asked jokingly.

"That's..." Suimei paused for a moment as he tried to think of a proper response. If only either of them knew how close they were to the actual truth. Granted, devils didn't really barter in souls anymore. It made for bad PR, having all their patrons either dead or in soul-binding contracts. That's why any pact that required a payment on the level of taking the contractor's life was strictly forbidden, outside of the most extreme of circumstances. "It's actually not related at all. Rias is, uh... She's afflicted with a late onset of chuunibyou and makes all of us in the club do weird stuff like this. There's no real purpose behind it," he lied with a fake laugh, his brain not registering the ridiculous words coming out of his mouth until they'd already been said.

"Seriously?"

"Really?"

"Yep," the devil replied with a nod, thankful they weren't immediately calling him out on his bullshit and now determined to stick with it. "She hides it pretty well but once classes are over she's all 'devils' this, and 'fallen angels' that, and making deals with normal human beings to raise our notoriety, speeches of conquering the world with her Destruction Magic, stuff along those lines. It's really tiresome," he continued, mixing in a few grains of truth with his outlandish lie that Rias was delusional. It wasn't as if they could ever actually discern what was truth and what was fiction in his little story anyway. His friends had no connection to the supernatural world whatsoever and Suimei had done his best to keep it that way, despite his own life being deeply entrenched in that world.

Work is work, personal is personal, and crossing the two would only ever lead to disaster and being forced to sacrifice one to facilitate the other. That was the mantra he lived by and the reason why he did everything in his power to make sure his two lives never intersected, minimalizing risks whenever possible. If something were to happen to his friends because of his life as a magician, now a devil, then he'd never be able to forgive himself for it. For as much as he disliked lying to the two people that had stuck by him since middle school, he disliked the idea of them being dragged into the paranormal even less.

"Huh. Never would have guessed. So Rias-senpai is a chuuni..." Motohama trailed off, a contemplative look on his face. Suimei didn't even want to think about what was going through his mind at that moment. He bought the lie, that was all that mattered. So long as he didn't ask questions then everything would be-

"Is that why she asked you to join? Because you both have that in common?" Matsuda asked, his question snapping Motohama out of his daze as the two of them began to laugh when Suimei quickly became visibly distressed at just the mere mention of what he used to be like. They could all but see the sweat begin to drip down his brow as their friend's posture became twitchy, looking as though he was ready to run from the scene at the drop of a hat.

"W-What are you talking about? I never went through that kind of phase," he sputtered, his expression becoming more embarrassed by the moment as his dark past was being brought to light. Why, oh why, did his mind have to jump to eighth-grader syndrome for his lie? Now he was the one being put on the spot. Still, he had grown out of such things a long time ago! "You must be thinking of someone else," Suimei insisted, trying to keep the desperation and nervousness out of his voice.

"No, that was definitely you. You wore a lot of belts and had an eyepatch for almost the entire second year of middle school. You gave yourself some sort of classification and grand make-believe history too, now that I think about it. Something about records?"

"Overseer of the Akashic Records," Motohama provided helpfully, pushing up his glasses with a smirk as he took pleasure in the way the red hue on Suimei's cheeks was spreading and threatening to overtake his entire face, his eyes darting around as if to check whether or not anyone was listening in on their conversation. "A pretty bold statement, to claim rulership over all events in the past, present, and future. The eyepatch was to restrain your power to perceive everything the future had in store, or so you kept telling us. There were a few other titles you gave yourself, weren't there? The reincarnation of a legendary hero, King of all Demons, Grand Emperor of-"

"No! No, no, no, stop!" Suimei yelled as he finally broke, ignoring the curious gazes of onlookers stopping to watch him shout at his two friends. His two friends that had changed from trying to hold back their cackling laughter to wearing huge, shit-eating grins on their faces as he panicked. "Both of you swore back then that you wouldn't ever bring this up again! It's forbidden! Stop talking and take the secret with you to the grave like you promised! I seriously won't forgive either of you if you keep going! You understand? Shut up or I'll kick your asses!"

Was it an overreaction to start yelling at his friends in public, dropping the flyers he was holding so he could grab them both by their collars and shake them as he ranted and raved? To some, maybe. To him, it wasn't nearly enough. No one outside of their group could be allowed to know about that time in his life. To even speak of it was to break the pact they made years ago, an agreement to never ever, _ever,_ talk about those months where he may have been just a touch unhinged. The damage it would do to his reputation would be insurmountable. He'd never recover if such things were brought to light. No, best to let old memories stay buried deep underground, never to be unearthed for fear of the curse it would unleash.

"Stop shaking me, you fucking chuuni bastard!"

"Quit it, I'm getting dizzy! You're gonna make me hurl!"

* * *

"Your parents out of town again?" Suimei asked as he tore open a bag of chips and poured them into the bowl set on Matsuda's dining room table.

"Yep. Some business conference or something, I wasn't really listening when they told me. They'll be back in a few days," Matsuda replied as he pulled his own snacks out of the plastic bags he and Motohama had been carrying earlier. "Don't get any crumbs on the floor, I just vacuumed this morning."

The sole non-human of the group only grunted in response before taking a hold of the bowl of chips, a handful of napkins, and his cup of soda and walking off to join Motohama in the living room, where the glasses-wearing boy was playing video games on the huge flatscreen TV. This was the usual set-up for hanging out among the three of them, at least when Suimei managed to somehow talk the other two of the group out of trying to get him to watch porn with them. Male bonding had limits that shouldn't be pushed, in his opinion, and watching porn with other guys was one of those lines in the sand not meant to be crossed.

Plopping down on the couch behind Motohama, who was sitting on the floor furiously pressing buttons on his controller, he took a handful of chips and tossed them into his mouth. "You winnin'?" the magician-turned-devil asked in-between chews as he turned his eyes towards the television screen, where a white-haired teen with a katana was currently going to town on some girl in an odd military-uniform wielding two huge handguns, trapping her in a corner and comboing her again and again.

"Getting my ass kicked," Motohama muttered angrily before the screen suddenly shifted and his opponent's character plunged his sword into the ground. "Goddammit! Yu is such a broken piece of shit in this game. They did this with Arena Ultimax too. Just because he's popular they make him top tier in every game. Nerf him into the damn ground already, ArcSys," he complained as the words ASTRAL FINISH rang out and the match ended.

"Why don't you just switch characters?"

Suimei could practically hear the bones in Motohama's neck crack when the boy's head spun around to look at him, both aghast and furious at his suggestion. "And _abandon_ Noel?! Are you insane? Why don't you just ask me to stop breathing while you're at it?" he yelled before turning back around and jumping into the next match, muttering obscenities under his breath over Suimei daring to put forth such a ridiculous suggestion.

"You worry me."

"Ignore him," Matsuda said as he dropped onto the couch next to Suimei. "What I wanna know is what you and Rias-senpai have got going on. A delinquent like you walking to school with one of the school's idols, everybody's talking about it. So, come on. You two going out? Messing around? Had sex? You can't run away like the other times I've asked now so you better tell us everything!"

All Suimei could do in the face of Matsuda's rapid-fire questions was sigh in dismay and shake his head before taking a long drink of his soda. He had told Rias again and again that she didn't need to walk with him to school and that, if anything, it would actually be better for the both of them if she didn't. Such an act would draw far too much attention to the both of them and while her reputation was just about bulletproof, his most certainly wasn't. She refused to listen, citing that she needed to keep an eye on him whenever possible and that she wanted to get to know her new Pawn regardless. That damn stubbornness of hers had been causing him problems ever since, with other members of the student body taking to regularly cursing his name and even his own two friends constantly trying to interrogate him to divine the true nature of their relationship.

"Don't call me a delinquent, you idiot. Hearing things like that from someone that regularly peeks on the Kendo Club pisses me off."

"But you've got the attitude for it."

"No, I don't."

"Gonna have to agree with Matsuda on this. You've got a very delinquent-like attitude."

"Why don't you spend less time talking and more time on focusing on your game instead of taking shots at me? Maybe then you'll actually win for once."

"Go to hell!"

"And stop trying to change the subject. You. Rias-senpai. Details. Gimme. Have you seen her naked? You have, haven't you?! You bastard, I can't believe you've been holding out on us."

"Stop jumping to such ridiculous conclusions. No, I haven't seen her naked," Suimei lied automatically, the thought of telling either of them the truth about that matter never even crossing his mind. Their brains would probably explode if he did, then he'd have to get new friends, it'd all just be one big mess. And considering the vast majority of the male students now seemed to despise him, his chances of forming any new friendships with them looked to be less than zero. "Nothing's going on between us either. I saw her when walking to school, she decided to walk with me, end of story. Why is that so difficult to believe?"

"Well, for starters, you just told an outrageous lie. _She_ wanted to walk with _you_ _?_ How am I supposed to believe something like that?"

"Yeah, that's just absurd. You're so far below her level that she shouldn't be aware you exist even if you were looking at each other."

"She's _Rias Gremory._ And you're _you._ It just doesn't add up at all. That's why it's so suspicious."

"Geez, when did you two get so ruthless? You're gonna hurt my feelings at this rate."

"Even if we assumed that you're telling the truth and Rias-senpai actually wanted to walk to school with you, several times at that," Matsuda continued, ignoring the faked look of anguish on his friend's face as he clutched his chest dramatically, "that doesn't explain why you agreed to join her club. You don't care about the occult or any of that stuff-"

"Unless he's talking about his fantasy powers again and how he's the Lord Kaiser of Gehenna or some other nonsense."

"Oi. Respect the vow of silence before I hit you. I won't hold back this time either, I really will knock you out," the young devil threatened. He had only stopped shaking the two of them in public after making them swear once more to keep their mouths shut about his secret past, and he had no problem enforcing that vow with his fists.

"-so why would she ask you to join in the first place?"

"My dashing good looks and charming personality?"

"Maybe she brought him in to tell jokes. He's clearly gotten good at it."

"Screw off, four-eyes," Suimei snapped, refraining from indulging in his sudden urge to throw a handful of chips at the back of Motohama's head, for the sake of keeping Matsuda's house clean if nothing else. "I joined 'cause it seemed interesting and I was bored at the time. Rias caught me in a good mood when she asked, that's all. I'd back out but I get the feeling I'd never hear the end of it if I did."

"You're damn fucking right you wouldn't hear the end of it because I wouldn't let you! You're in a club with Akeno-senpai, Rias-senpai, and Koneko-chan. Do you have any idea how lucky you are? You made it, you bastard! You've arrived at the Promised Land! You made it to Nirvana before either of us even got close, how can you even think of throwing that away? Are you insane?! If you screw this up I swear to God I'll kill you!"

"Screw _what_ up? It's just an after-school club. You're making this seem way bigger than it actually is."

"Don't you get it? You're in the prime position to make a harem! Three of the crown jewels of Kuoh Academy, you can steal all of them away! For as much as it pisses me off that it's you instead of me, at least I can live vicariously through your actions. You hear me? You're not just doing this for you, you're doing this for me. For Motohama. For the dreams of all the men you've trampled underfoot to get to where you are now! You have to carry that weight on your shoulders now. That's your cross to bear."

"...Yeah, I'm not doing that," Suimei deadpanned. "Life isn't some harem anime, ya know. Dealing with one relationship looks difficult, I can't imagine the amount of work that must go into trying to keep up with several relationships, all at the same time. I'd never get a decent night's sleep again because of how much time I'd have to spend making sure they're not trying to tear each other to pieces. So, no, I'm refusing your dream. Please keep on chasing your wild fantasies for yourself instead of forcing them on me. I don't need any more stress in my life, I've enough on my plate as is."

"Yeah, he's got enough on his plate with Rias-senpai alone. Give him some time to get acclimated to his new non-virgin status first, he'll come around soon enough."

"I'm gonna take that controller and shove it somewhere incredibly uncomfortable, you glasses-wearing jackass, I swear on my life," Suimei menaced, irritated by the lazy shrug Motohama gave him in response to his threat. He could at least have the decency to pretend to be intimidated. "Nothing is going on between Rias and I. She's the boss of a club I joined on a whim and now can't leave, that's it. Keep your weird delusions about my personal life to yourselves."

"Whatever you say, man. Just don't waste the opportunity you've been given. People would kill to be in your position, you know."

"Really? I hadn't noticed. Did you know that people have been leaving me threatening letters on my desk every morning since I walked to school with Rias? Just today I received a wonderful, well-crafted note of _'If you touch Rias-senpai or Akeno-senpai in any way I'm going to go to your house and sodomize you with a rake'_. You guys have any idea what they meant by this? I'm thinking I have a secret admirer. That or the entire school has _finally_ gone insane with its idolatry."

"And you're the lone sane man, right?" Motohama asked sarcastically, swearing loudly once more immediately after when he lost another match.

"Me, sane? Hardly. I'm the worst of them all because I agreed to follow you dumbasses to that insane asylum in the first place. I should have known better than to believe for even one second that either of applied to Kuoh Academy because it would look good on your college applications and resumes. That was my fault for trusting either of you to think with your brains instead of what's between your legs."

Matsuda scoffed before snatching up some chips from Suimei's bowl, earning himself an indignant cry from the boy. "Oh please, like you wouldn't have come along anyway. You try to act above it all but I've seen you look at some of the girls at school, and you always come with us when we go peeking on the Kendo Club. Don't pretend to be all virtuous."

"I go with you because I know the one day I decide not to might just be the day Murayama and Katase decide to smash your heads in and be done with it. Somebody has to bail you both out and, unfortunately, I've become saddled with that responsibility. Feel free to thank me anytime," Suimei shot back, ignoring the remark about his wandering eyes because he couldn't refute it without telling a bald-faced lie. Yeah, he looked. Of _course_ he looked. Just because he wasn't as upfront about his perversions as his two friends didn't mean he was some damn saint with zero sex drive. He looked, he liked, he kept his damn mouth shut so as to not sully his own reputation.

Any further replies were stopped short when he felt his phone vibrate, causing Suimei to huff in annoyance at having his conversation ended prematurely. It was probably Rias checking up on him again. No, it definitely had to be. Very few people had his phone number and, of that short list, two of them were currently with him. The only other person that had his number was his King, assuming she hadn't given it out to the rest of the club in case they needed to contact him in an emergency.

He grumbled a bit before wiping his hands with a napkin and reaching into his pocket. Sure enough, upon pressing the home button and lighting up the screen, there was the notification of one message from Rias, asking him if he had completed his assignment. The assignment that he had ditched to hang out with Motohama and Matsuda instead despite the fact that he hadn't even finished half of a stack, reasoning to himself that he was just taking a small break. So, in an attempt to avoid Rias' ire for failing to meet his quota for the second night in a row, he decided to, once more, take the mature and responsible route in solving his current issue.

"Those flyers that I was passing out, can I leave 'em here? Just till I get back."

"Fine by me, just don't forget."

With the corner of his lips turned upwards in a victorious smirk and a thank you to his friend, Suimei quickly typed out his reply. _Yep, passed them all out_ , before pressing the send button. He'd deal with the extra flyers later. Besides, there was little risk in leaving them with Matsuda for now. He'd be gone for an hour, maybe two at most. Not enough time for the boy to get too curious and try using the flyer, at least not for its intended purpose. He would be swinging by on his way home anyway, to come pick them up and stash them at his own house until he could pass them out at his leisure. In the absolute worst-case scenario, he'd just have Matsuda's memories of the summoning wiped for his own good. Not a particularly savory outcome but it would be best for everyone involved if neither he nor Motohama had any knowledge of devils.

Within a few moments, he received another message from Rias. _I better not find any more of our flyers in the trash, Suimei. Come back to the clubroom, you have a client waiting for you,_ a reply that gave him pause. A client for him? That was a first. Still, best not to keep whoever it was waiting. "Looks like I've still got work to do. Catch you guys later," Suimei said as he slid his phone back into his pocket and stood up, taking one last sip of his soda for the road.

With Motohama and Matsuda grunting out their own goodbyes, the former throwing in a remark to make sure to wear protection during his time with Rias, a comment that left Suimei rolling his eyes and muttering under his breath about perverted idiots that couldn't keep their stupid thoughts to themselves, the young devil left his friend's house and began the long trek back to the school building. It was time for his first ever contract.

* * *

Walking into the clubroom, Suimei couldn't help but wonder if his lie that Rias was afflicted with chuunibyou had a bit of truth to it. No normal person could decorate a room in such a way. The Victorian-era furniture was fine and, in his opinioned, classed the place up a bit. The effect was dulled by the fact that Rias insisted on lighting the room with candelabras, likely going for some sort of theme of the room being a home for the supernatural and paranormal. Then there were the runes, sigils, and other magic-related symbols drawn upon the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling, with the Gremory family's magic circle being at the center of it all. Though he supposed he couldn't really fault the girl considering this single room was, for all intents and purposes, her base of operations. Whatever purpose the room's enchantments held, a current unknown to him since Rias refused to let him do any tests or experiments on them, claiming she didn't want him breaking anything (or anyone), it was better to have them in place than not.

The shower installed in the back of the room, that was significantly more questionable. But, like most things, he shrugged it off as well. His father had taken care to impart upon him that to be a magician was to be abnormal in all senses of the word. The same should apply twice as much to devils, no? As beings that regularly engaged in sinful deeds, a few oddities here and there could be excused. There were far worse habits Rias could have developed in place of taking showers at odd times for the sake of relaxing, so Suimei simply accepted it for what it was. Nobody else in the club treated it as something strange, far be it for him to break that uniform acceptance of the King's strangeness.

Besides, the appeal of entering the room only to find Rias alone, clad in nothing but a towel and dripping wet after having just exited the shower, was something he had yet to get tired of. He wasn't a pervert, definitely not to the level of his companions at least, and he most certainly didn't have any intention of trying to turn the ORC into some sort of personal harem like he had been advised but it wasn't as if there was a rule against looking. On the clock, he kept things strictly professional, after all.

"Suimei, are you paying attention?"

"Nope," the boy chirped in response, a smile on his face as if he hadn't just admitted to completely blanking out when Rias had been speaking to him. Nothing said "strictly professional" like ignoring your boss when they're talking to you.

Rias sighed, lowering the towel she was using to dry her hair. At least he was honest about it. Now if only he could _honestly_ apply himself to his work rather than finding ways to get out of doing it at all, then they'd be making progress. "I said, you've got a contract. This is your first one, so be on your best behavior and don't forget to have the client fill out the questionnaire on the back of the flyer. Do you have any questions or concerns before I send you off?" the redhead asked, wanting things to go as smoothly as possible for both her newest recruit as well as the summoner. The last thing she needed was to hear that Suimei had gotten into an argument with the client and failed to fulfill the contract.

"Nope," the Low-class repeated, still cheerful despite internally groaning at the idea of doing more work. If he was lucky then whoever it was calling for him would have a quick and easy request. Then he could get home and get some well-deserved R&R. "Good to go, Red. Though I really don't see a point in all this contract nonsense. I-"

"Yes, I know. Devils are rarely promoted based upon the number of contracts completed and you'd rather spend the time doing something more productively, you've already said as much," Rias said, cutting him off and doing her best to not remind him that his idea of productivity was not doing any work at all. "Still, this is a requirement for all devils. You can't get out of your obligations that easily. Just do your best, okay? Don't cause too much trouble and I'll consider lessening the number of flyers you have to hand out for the rest of this week. And who knows, maybe your client will be someone interesting. Some devils find fulfilling contracts relaxing in their own way."

"If I ever say something along the lines of finding contracts relaxing assume that I've either gone insane or been replaced by an imposter."

* * *

When he had been sick and dying, traveling in search of information regarding the Underworld and its goings-on, he had, on more than one occasion, been forced into a fight. Even before then, when he had been studying the art of magic under his father, the man regularly allowed him to follow along on his missions (who exactly was employing his father he never said, and Suimei never asked again after being told to drop the subject). Tracking Strays of both the Devil and Magician variety, hunting and neutralizing magical beasts that were running amok and threatening human society, apprehending heretical magicians that had overstepped their bounds and began dabbling in human experimentation, and so on. Suffice to say that Suimei wasn't exactly some fresh newbie that hadn't dealt with his fair share of powerful beings, both with his father's assistance and by his lonesome.

And yet this man, his client that was staring at him with open curiosity in his violet eyes, made everything preceding him look like child's play.

He wasn't human. That was the first thing Suimei's mind jumped to, once it had finally rebooted after almost being overwhelmed and swept away. He had sensed and felt powerful humans before, his father being one of them, and whoever it was standing in front of him was most certainly not human. His mana, it carried the holy properties of light within it. That immediately opened up two possibilities, neither of which were looking good for him. Angel or fallen angel, it didn't matter which, either one could reduce him to nothing with one well-placed stab of a spear of light.

"You okay, kid? You're looking a bit pale."

Suimei's answer was to continue staring, even as the older male gave him a wry grin despite his lack of a verbal response. This guy didn't have the aura one would expect of an angel, though how exactly the young devil knew that without having ever encountered an angel personally, he didn't know. Too casual, too relaxed, too opposite of what he expected an angel to be like. Was it racist to assume that angels would have the stick-up-the-ass, holier-than-thou (technically literally, but still), "be smote in the name of our Lord, accursed hellspawn!" type of personality and aura? Probably, but he cared little for such concerns at the moment.

If he ruled out angel, that meant he was a fallen angel. It matched up with the, for lack of a better term, dimness to aforementioned holy properties. It was still burning brightly within his mana, like a wildfire that showed no signs of slowing or stopping, but it felt tinged with something else. A sort of darkness that must have come from falling from Heaven. This was likely one of the fallen angels that Rias had told him explicitly to avoid at all costs, not wanting a possible confrontation to break out.

And here he was, being summoned by a goddamn fallen angel. One that almost had him breaking out in a cold sweat just from peeking behind the curtain a bit too far and getting the barest of looks at his power when he used his magically enhanced senses to get a feel of who his first-ever client was. Rias was worried about a fight between her forces and this guy? _Fuck_ the fight. There wouldn't be a fight, it'd be a one-sided slaughter. This guy might very well be capable of turning the entire town into a barren wasteland before shrugging his shoulders and walking away as if nothing happened. What the hell was Rias even thinking, not informing her higher-ups, or even the Satans themselves, that someone on this level was wandering around her territory?! Was she insane?!

"What the hell are you?" Suimei blurted out, as awed as he was instinctually fearful. The devil in him wanted to get as far away from the location as possible to avoid utter eradication, the small dragon portion of himself that he owed to the Boosted Gear being housed within his soul wanted to try his luck in a fight (one that would undoubtedly be suicidal), and the final part of the puzzle, his inquisitive magician side that had been cultivated over recent years, just wanted to know who he was and how he was so damned strong. Three sides, all fighting for dominance, and the one that won just had to be the side that left him rooted to the spot, easy pickings if the fallen angel decided to run him through with a spear then and there.

The still unknown man chuckled before running a hand through his golden bangs, the rest of his hair a jet black color, the smile on his face widening. "Y'know, it's a bit rude to ask somebody _what_ they are instead of _who,_ " he chastised with a laugh. "But judging by the look on your face I'll go out on a limb and say you know what I am. You can relax, by the way. I'm not here to start any problems. I'm just passing by and decided to have some fun. I'll probably be out of here by tomorrow. I called you here-" The man stopped to gesture to the area, sweeping his arm in a slightly dramatic fashion. It was a pier, one Suimei had passed by a few times when he was bored and felt like taking a walk around town. Quiet, isolated, unlikely to be stumbled upon by anyone, the perfect place to kill an idiot Low-class devil without any witnesses, Suimei couldn't help but think. "-to fulfill a contract."

"And that is?" the devil asked guardedly, ready to draw upon his own mana and at least make the man work for his kill, if just a little. A fallen angel summoning a devil for a contract? Yeah, right. What were the odds of that happening? All three sides of the Great War _loathed_ one another, only putting a shaky ceasefire in place because if they kept fighting they would have wiped themselves out.

The fallen angels had retreated first, taking the most losses and having no way to replenish their forces without tempting their former brethren away from Heaven's pearly gates. Then the original Four Great Satans died, supposedly in a great battle with God Himself. That left the devils demoralized and without any central leaders, so they pulled out as well to regroup and figure out how to recoup their own losses. And finally, despite having the advantage, the angels stopped their assaults as well, when they easily could have kept pushing and possibly destroyed at least one of the other factions. No one knew why and it wasn't as if they could just ask the angels "Hey, why didn't you kill us all?" in light conversation. That was the "end" of the Great War. No grand final showdown. No last struggle. The open warfare just _stopped_ , and it was something of an unspoken agreement that anyone who tried to restart the war of their own accord would be dealt with harshly. Despite that, he had little doubt there were still splinter groups operating in the shadows, trying to bait the other two sides into starting something they couldn't finish.

"You ever been fishing before?"

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"Fishing. You got any experience with it?"

Suimei just blinked owlishly. Had he teleported into the fucking Twilight Zone by accident or was this guy, who could probably kill him a hundred times over before he got up his defenses, asking him about _fishing?_ "I... No, I don't. Sorry," he answered honestly. What was he supposed to say? Was being honest even the correct choice? What if he just pissed him off by admitting he didn't know jack about fishing? Dammit, he so did not sign up for this. He was supposed to be enjoying a long lifespan, not dealing with the worry that he had just cut it short.

Thankfully, it seemed telling the truth was the right move. "That's fine. If anything, it's better that way. I might actually win a round if you're inexperienced." The fallen angel, who had yet to identify himself, summoned two fishing rods and tossed one to Suimei. The boy caught it but continued to look at him in confusion, still not fully understanding what was going on. The man paid the look on his face no mind as he did an about-face, walking away before taking a seat on the edge of the dock, his legs hanging off before casting his fishing rod. "Pull up some dock, kiddo. The contract's to keep me company for a while, and I feel like fishing.

"Oh, and by the way, the name's Azazel. Nice to meet you."

Suimei wasn't the least bit embarrassed to admit that, upon hearing he was meeting with the Governor-General of Grigori, he choked on his spit before breaking out in hysterical laughter, even as he stumbled over to the fallen's position and dropped on his ass next to him. His first client, and it was a fallen angel said to be powerful enough to fight with the current Satans.

This must have been karma biting him in the ass for lying to Rias about finishing his work.

No other explanation would do.

* * *

 **And things keep moving along, as they always do. Was a bit torn on this chapter between doing things the kind of boring but functional way of following canon (i.e. Issei hands out flyers, gets summoned by Morisawa and Mil-tan, attacked by Kalawarner in the anime, etc) or trying something different, (hopefully) unexplored, and possibly falling flat on my face while doing so. I went with the latter because it seemed more fun at the time to write how Suimei tries to maintain his previous connections with his "past" life while simultaneously dealing with his new responsibilities and circumstances. Canon be a changin', and you best believe those changes are going to influence things down the road.**

 **Question time:**

 **RedXEagl3: I won't say the pairings outright since I feel like that takes a lot of feeling out of any possible romance if people already know who will (or won't) end up with who. The most I'll say is don't expect Suimei to go around stealing people's wives or girlfriends. He might even try his hand at hooking people up himself, for reasons I'll leave undisclosed for now.**

 **Leave a review, tell me what you enjoyed, leave questions, etc, and a big thank you to all the people that have favorited, followed, and reviewed since the last chapter. 50 favorites, 88 followers, 13 reviews, nothing to scoff at. I hope I don't let any of you down. That said, I might be breaking my current schedule of one update a month. Nothing's guaranteed, just saying it's a possibility, either with the upcoming chapter or sometime in the future. See you later.**


	4. Chapter 4

The feeling of triumph Rias felt after finally, several minutes of struggling later, managing to wrench the blanket away from Suimei could only be matched by the mirth (and slight annoyance) felt when he snatched it out of her hands before laying back down and pulling it over his head. Since waking up and removing herself from her Pawn's bed she had the time to brush her teeth, shower, and get dressed. Meanwhile, Suimei, still in bed. Not good, not good at all. "Aren't you a little old for the _'I don't want to go to school'_ routine?" she asked, a delicate eyebrow quirking upward when the boy didn't respond. "Suimei, I _know_ you're up. Nobody goes back to sleep that fast."

This time, she received an answer. Unfortunately, it was in the form of muffled and unintelligible grumblings, half of which sounded like curses directed at her, the academy, and the sun itself. Once those finally died down, she was able to just barely make out a single sentence, something about "you're not my real mom", a childish reply that had her rolling her eyes. "Obviously not. But I _am_ your master, and that makes you my responsibility. Part of that responsibility means making sure you're where you need to be when you need to be there, and that's walking to school five minutes ago. Now, up. If you're quick about it there might still be time for breakfast."

She heard the boy suck his teeth before sitting up and letting the cover fall away cover only his lower body. His hair was a mess, even more than usual, sticking this way and that way in a case of severe bedhead. His eyes still carried a bit of drowsiness to them but not enough to hide the irritation he was clearly feeling at being pestered. He put a hand to his forehead before running it through his hair, either in an attempt to muss it up further or straighten it out, she wasn't entirely sure.

"Surprised you even want us, _any_ of us, walking to school instead of teleporting straight to the clubroom. What, is it safe to go outside now?"

Rias frowned, knowing immediately what he was referencing. From the moment Suimei had given her report and told her not only had he been summoned by a fallen angel but that Azazel himself had been the one to form a pact, she had been a step away from putting the entire city on lockdown. One or two low-ranking fallen angels moving around in her territory, unannounced? Distasteful and shady, no doubt, but she could put up with it so long as they caused no trouble for any of the people, devils and human alike, residing in Kuoh Town. The Governor-General of Grigori suddenly making an appearance and calling upon one of her servants to form a pact? That was a different beast entirely.

Suffice to say that Rias had been on edge for the past few days, checking in on her servants periodically to make sure everyone was alright. All members of the club had been given strict orders too; no one goes anywhere by themselves, not until she gave the all clear. Yuuto and Koneko were staying at Akeno's place for the time being, and Rias elected to stay with Suimei since it would kill two birds with one stone. She was still in the process of healing his body come nightfall so it only made sense for the two of them to pair off. On top of only moving in groups of two or more when in public, everyone was to go to school, check in with her, attend class, take care of their limited club duties (all contracts were put on temporary hold), and then go straight home. No detours, no side trips, nothing. A bit draconian, no pun intended towards current company, but she felt such measures were necessary to keep everyone safe.

"Just because everyone's on edge-"

"Who's this _'everyone'_ you're talkin' about? I'm not on edge. I'm cool as ice. The only problem I've got right now is this real annoying redhead that won't take no for an answer," he said, fixing Rias with a glare.

At this, Rias couldn't help but smirk, putting her hands on her hips as she stared him down. "Really now? You're not on edge? Not even in the slightest? Remind me again, who was it that teleported into the clubroom, rushed up to my desk, and asked, and I quote, _'Why the hell didn't you tell me that one of the fallen angels you spotted flying around in your territory was the goddamn Governor-General?!'_? I don't think it was me who said that. I wonder who it could have been?" she asked, her voice carrying just a touch of a playfulness to it despite the situation in question being anything but lighthearted.

Suimei's face flushed at the reminder of how he had acted, barging into the clubroom in a huff and demanding answers that Rias didn't even have. "Don't try and put that on me, I had a completely normal reaction considering I had just spent the last hour next to somebody that could have easily killed me like it was nothing. Next time you want to put me in a face-to-face meeting with an enemy faction leader, let me know ahead of time so I can prepare my last will and testament."

"If I had known it was a fallen angel trying to use one of our flyers I would never have sent you out there. Especially not to have a chat with one of the leaders of Grigori." Suimei just gave a non-committal hum in response, breaking eye contact when he flopped back onto his bed. "That aside, things have quieted back down. None of our familiars have seen hide or hair of Azazel since that evening despite scouring the entire city for him."

"Maybe he kept his word and actually left."

"Do you really believe that?"

"Way I see it, there's two options. Option A, he's up to something in the city and hasn't left yet, he's just waiting for things to kick off. Option B, he was being honest in saying that he wasn't here to go picking any fights and after the contract was done he kept his word and left without causing any problems. B is more convenient, A is more realistic, and the truth is probably something in the middle. He wrote on the flyer that he had gotten what he came for, right?"

The redhead nodded. The post-contract questionnaire was a crucial part of the pact-making process for devils, as it allowed their clients to give them something to go off of when improving themselves. The questionnaire for Suimei's contract with Azazel in particular held glowing praise for the boy, stating that he had made for good company and that he wouldn't mind summoning him again (something Rias would absolutely and categorically not allow under any circumstance). At the bottom of it had been a note stating that, as Suimei said, Azazel was leaving Kuoh Town since he had already completed whatever task it was that took him into her territory. Still, regardless of whether or not he was being honest, she wouldn't let her guard down just yet.

"You call up your brother yet?"

The sudden question took Rias off-guard and broke her of her inner thoughts. "Huh?"

The dark-haired boy sat up once more, the previous tired expression he had worn disappearing almost instantaneously and replaced by one of absolute seriousness. It was a rare sight, something she'd only seen in their first talk when he summoned her all those nights ago. "Did. You. Call. Up. Your. Brother. Yet?" he asked once more, enunciating each word to get his point across. When she didn't answer, he let out a harsh breath and shook his head. "Rias, what the hell are you even thinking? The leader of the fallen angels waltzes into a devil's territory and you don't consider that maybe we should tell the Satans about it? Please don't tell me I sold my soul off to an idiot. I don't think I can take that sort of heartbreaking revelation this early in the morning."

"I can handle it," she stated. There was no reason to go and bother her brother about the goings on in her territory. Kuoh Town was hers and she accepted the responsibility of whatever happened in the city the day she agreed to claim it. She wasn't some little girl that needed to run to her older brother for help. "There's no reason to-"

"You can handle it?" he asked incredulously, his expression of utter disbelief. "You can handle a fallen angel that fought on the same battlefield as the original Satans as well as the Biblical God? You, Rias Gremory, can handle that kind of guy, just like," Suimei extended his arm and snapped his fingers to illustrate the point, "that? Well shit, I didn't know you could throw around that kind of muscle. Next time he calls me up to hang out, how about I bring you along to be my bodyguard?"

Rias felt her patience begin to wear thin at the way her Pawn was speaking to her. Jokes and sarcastic comments were fine but this was coming dangerously close to a line that was better left uncrossed. She was not a helpless child that needed rescuing anytime things looked a bit grim, she was an heiress to one of the 72 Pillar clans and more than capable of holding her own. She had been trained, from the time she could walk until the day she left the Underworld to venture into Japan, to lead, and that's what she was doing now. What leader fell back when things looked rough? No leader at all, that's what. With such thoughts in mind and feeling herself get a tad bit cross, she opened her mouth to speak. Unfortunately, before she could get a word in, Suimei beat her to the punch.

"You want to show you're independent, right? Standing tall on your own, taking care of business?" he asked, not waiting for her answer before continuing on. "That's fine. I can respect that even if, personally, I would have picked a better time to take that stance. But you need to remember that your choices don't exist in a vacuum. Me, Koneko, Kiba, Akeno, Sitri and her peerage, the entire city if things go too far, we're the ones dealing with the fallout just as much as you, for better or worse. That's what being the King means. You're responsible for everything that happens, good or bad."

"I know that," she said angrily, looking away from her servant, suddenly feeling much younger and smaller than she actually was. It was as though she were standing in front of her parents, being reprimanded for some mistake she had made. How had she lost control of the conversation so quickly, with so few words? She was the one higher in command, yet it felt like Suimei was the one giving the orders. And where was this sort of take-charge attitude from her servant in his normal, day to day affairs? Why didn't he approach his work with this sort of zeal? It was like dealing with two entirely different people.

"That's good. Don't go forgetting it either. If you do, feel free to ask for a reminder. I'll gladly give you one anytime you like."

Suimei tore the sheet off of his lower body and swung his legs off the bed. Clad in only a pair of boxers, because despite Rias having informed him that her healing worked best with complete skin-on-skin contact with nothing separating the two of them and having already seen him nude he claimed he still had a sense of modesty to him, he strode across the room and opened the door to leave. With one foot out the door and Rias watching him go, she heard the young man sigh deeply before he turned back around. He stood there in silence for a few moments before awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck and staring off to the side, causing Rias to look at him in confusion. Was this lecture going to go on for even longer?

"Look, I'm not trying to dress you down or anything, alright? If you think the best thing to do is keep quiet on all this then I won't go over your head and rat you out to anybody." Rias wasn't sure but she felt there was an unspoken "yet" that he wanted to end that sentence on but held off at that last moment. "Whatever decision you make, I'll stand with you on it. I'm a foot soldier, not a wartime consigliere, y'know? All this politicking crap, you take care of that and I'll deal with the fighting that comes after. Just don't go sending me off into any hopeless battles, k? I just got my life back, I'm not trying to see it cut short so soon after," he finished, flashing her a sardonic smile before turning back around and leaving, no doubt to take that shower and prepare for school as Rias urged him to before their discussion took such a serious turn.

Left alone in the boy's room, Rias let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. Even though he claimed it wasn't a scolding, she hadn't received a talking to like that since she was a little girl. It was...a sobering experience, and one that left her at a crossroads. She had fully taken into account the possible dangers of not informing her brother of the sudden appearance by Azazel but having it brought up with no uncertain terms made her confidence waver. If she chose to keep silent and deal with this situation herself then she wouldn't be the only one bearing the burden, her peerage would as well. Her peerage, Sona's, everyone. And if Azazel truly did launch an attack on the town, what were her options? Could she really hope to go against the entire fallen angel faction with nothing more than her childhood friend as backup?

With that thought in mind, she conjured a magic circle. A leader leads by example. If she couldn't do this much then how could she expect any of her servants to come to her for help should the need arise? Even putting that aside, if she allowed anyone, her precious family members especially, to fall in harm's way because of her selfishness then she wouldn't be able to forgive herself. Swallowing her pride, she spoke calmly and with certainty.

"Grayfia, are you there? I need to talk to my brother. Please tell him it's important."

* * *

Breakfast had been a surprisingly unawkward affair despite the serious conversation that had preceded it. Suimei came out of the shower and downstairs into the dining room with the same attitude he always had and Rias, knowing that the situation was now out of her hands for the time being, gladly went along with his attempts at acting as though nothing had happened. Sometimes the elephant in the room didn't need addressing.

Suimei attacked the meal she had made with the gusto of a man on his way to the electric chair though, as usual, he declared that the food had just been _"okay"_ once he finally set down his silverware. _"Okay"_ would have been a statement that carried more weight behind it if he hadn't polished off three full servings by himself. How he managed to maintain such a slim figure despite, from what she had seen, eating enough to feed a three-person family by himself, Rias would never know and considering anytime she asked he wrote it off with the explanation of _"I burn calories when I use my magic, obviously."_ she doubted she'd ever know the truth. Maybe his stomach was just a bottomless pit? That was as good an explanation as any.

Their walk to school had begun with light conversation with nothing of note really being said before falling into silence. Rias didn't really know what to say and Suimei didn't have anything he particularly wanted to talk about so the majority of the trip had been a quiet walk until the redhead, in an attempt to learn more about her Pawn, asked him about his magic. A simple question and one she expected him to respond to with a secretive or evasive answer. Instead, what she got was far more interesting.

"The way I use magic, it might take all day to explain all of it. It's not like the system you use." He took a moment to scoff angrily. "You devils, I swear. Your work is a complete mess. How you haven't blown the entire Underworld to shit is a mystery that even I can't hope to unravel."

"That's a bit unfair, don't you think?" she asked, more entertained by his remarks than offended by the fact that he was disparaging her race's method of using magic. "It's a method that clearly works, and without issue at that. It's something you'll have to get used to using yourself. You're a devil too, in case you've forgotten."

He snorted in response. "Just because something works doesn't mean it's well-made. You can build a house on a crap foundation and live in it for a few years, doesn't mean there won't come a time when it just collapses one day for seemingly no reason. Then everyone, who's still alive that is, can stand around and wonder how it happened, saying stupid things like how they don't understand what went wrong because they thought everything was fine."

"You make very odd comparisons."

"Why do people keep telling me that? Everything I say makes sense," he said before deciding to get back on topic. "Anyway, I'll stick to my own ways of using magic. It might take a bit more work to get things right but I trust it more than something that can be boiled down to _'just wish really hard and it'll happen'_."

"The method that Merlin Ambrosius created, right? That's what you use?" Rias asked, now thoroughly invested in the conversation. This was a rare chance to not only learn more about Suimei but to hear about what he could do. She could admit that upon learning he had the Boosted Gear she had focused more on that aspect than his claims of being a magician. It was easier to focus on the Sacred Gear that she could see with her own two eyes than the magical talents he had yet to display, beyond devising his own ritual to summon her for a pact. Invocation was an interesting skill, no doubt about that, but she hoped it wasn't his only skill. Calling upon other devils wasn't exactly a legal tactic in Rating Games, after all.

A half-hearted shrug of his shoulders. "It is and it isn't. See, what people tell you about Merlin and his system isn't really the whole truth. The history books have him down as a genius and don't get me wrong, he absolutely was. There's an argument to be made that the only magician on a higher level than Merlin was Solomon, the King of Magic himself. Compared to those two, the magicians of this era aren't any different than the frauds in Vegas sawing people in half while pulling rabbits out of top hats."

"Yourself included?" Rias asked with a fair amount of cheek, to which Suimei only smiled before nodding, surprising her. She had expected him to huff and puff about how he carried himself apart from other magicians and was in a league all his own but, instead, he actually had a rather humble expression on his face.

"Even me. Arguably, _especially_ me. I don't come from any sort of family that can trace its ancestry back hundreds of years to when magic was more prevalent than technology and science. My ancestors as a whole weren't even particularly notable folks, so if you're expecting a sudden grand reveal like I'm actually the great-great-great-great long lost descendant of a genius magician on the level of Morgan le Fay, Faust, or even Aleister Crowley then you can drop those hopes here and now. I am what I am, just a simple magician from a common bloodline."

"Who just so happened to be born with a Sacred Gear, one that can bring your power to a level capable of slaying gods if given enough time."

"...Well the universe had to give me something, didn't it? These good looks of mine alone can't carry me forever."

They both laughed at his joke, though Suimei noted with some small bit of annoyance that Rias laughed for just a few moments too long in his opinion. It wasn't _that_ funny, dammit. He looked, in his entirely unbiased opinion, great, especially for a guy that had been dying not that long ago. His skin was no longer a sickly pale, his black hair had regained its lost luster, and, thanks to his appetite no longer being suppressed by his illness, he wasn't a sandwich away from emaciation. All of that made for, again in his fair and objective judgment, a decent enough package. He wasn't some Cassanova like Kiba but then again how many people were, really?

Putting his, admittedly somewhat vain, thoughts to the side for the moment, he decided to continue his explanation. Magic was one of the few things in life he truly carried a passion for and having the opportunity to openly talk about it with someone else was something he relished. Talking to others that were aware of magic was a luxury he rarely had the opportunity to indulge in, only able to partake in it when dealing with some of the more friendly and conversational individuals he had met when gathering information on the Underworld.

It was a good thing the streets were relatively clear, otherwise such a discussion would have been impossible. While there wasn't necessarily any sort of law in place that forbade revealing the supernatural to normal humans it wasn't something people just went around and blabbed about. Doing so would cause a whole host of problems, and like hell would he be the one to deal with them.

"Anyways, back to what I was talking about. Solomon and Merlin, the two greatest magicians to ever cast a spell. Their talents in all fields of sorcery were so great that their skill could rival true miracles brought forth by the divine providence of a god at the peak of their worship. Solomon did the impossible by calling upon 72 demons, the 72 Pillars, and binding them to his will. Merlin, on the other hand-"

"Is that really true?" Rias asked suddenly.

"What, the bit about Solomon?"

She gave a nod in the affirmative. "I was taught as a child that, while Solomon did summon 72 devils, they weren't the individual leaders of each family. My tutors didn't delve too deeply into the topic before moving on, and any questions I asked about it were ignored."

"No doubt to save face. A human, even one that God Himself spoke to, being able to summon the leaders of the 72 Pillars and control them? I somehow can't see that going over particularly well. As for whether or not it's true," Suimei shrugged once more, "it depends on who you ask. Magicians also have their own beliefs on the validity of whether or not Solomon truly summoned the 72. The majority believe it's the truth, no more, no less. There's no reason to doubt it, so they don't. Simple as that."

"And what does the minority believe?"

The boy couldn't help but smile at the question. The way she said it, he knew what was really being asked. _What is it that_ you _believe?_ "You're just asking all of the right questions today, aren't you? Why can't you be like this more often? You and I would get along so well if you were like this all the time," he bemoaned.

Rias laughed but didn't respond. This was as talkative as she'd ever seen him and, even more importantly, he looked genuinely happy with the discussion. The way his eyes lit up when talking about magic, the passion in his voice, the humor that lacked the distinct mocking tone she had come to associate with him, it was yet another sharp change from the typically apathetic, downright lazy, teenage boy she had become acquainted with over the past several weeks. The serious side that he had shown her earlier when talking about what to do with Azazel's sudden appearance, this more affable and good-humored self that he was displaying now, the sharp-tongued and quick-witted but evasive and distant mask he typically adorned for as long as she had known him, just how many more sides were there to Yakagi Suimei? How next would he surprise her?

"To answer your question, it follows a lot of the same as the prevalent belief. Utilizing the Ring of Solomon, that is, the ten rings granted to him by God, and his immense talent at Evocation, he summoned 72 demons. The 72, under Solomon's command, were forced to give their names and became known to humanity by the same moniker they went by in the Underworld - the 72 Pillars. Now here's where it splinters off from the common theory. The minority operates under the premise that the demons Solomon called upon were indeed the 72, just not as we know them. Rather, they were the 72 of a different world entirely."

The heiress sucked in a breath, eyes widening in shock. Another world? Did such a thing truly exist? She voiced such questions and received a chuckle from Suimei.

"Ah, who knows? That's the thing, there's no way to prove or disprove the existence of separate worlds. See, what we call the "human world", the Underworld, Heaven, Mt. Olympus, Asgard, you get the point, it all falls under the cover of one entire 'world'. That's why travel is possible between them all, assuming one side isn't barring the way intentionally. They're all connected to one another and held together by something greater. The hypothetical world that exists with this third theory about Solomon, it's outside of that scope entirely, completely detached from ours and not traversable in either direction. That world and ours exist on parallel lines, possibly traveling in the same direction but never once crossing.

"But Solomon, well, there's a reason why he _deserved_ the title King of Magic. Using his own power as well as the strength granted to him with the ten rings, he managed to do something never been done before, nor after, his time. He bridged the gap between those parallel lines and drew beings from that world into this one. Whether or not they were what that world categorized as demons, it doesn't matter. The Ring of Solomon recognized them as demonic in nature and, as such, granted him dominion over them."

"But the names, how could the names match up so perfectly? From Bael to Andromalius, every name was exactly the same. That can't be written off as coincidence."

"Mmm, true. The idea, at least as I understand it, is that the other world was following a path similar to ours. As such, they had their own 72 Pillars, ones with identical names. So, for example, when he summoned the leader of the Bael clan and asked for its designation, it obviously gave the name Bael but it wasn't Bael as we would know it today. Two different Baels, one from the other world and one from ours. Solomon commanded and established dominance over the 72 Pillars, they just weren't _our_ 72 Pillars."

"That's..."

"Incredible, ain't it?" Rias didn't, or rather couldn't, verbally respond so she only nodded. "But, like I said, this is all just a theory. Pure conjecture at its finest, really. Ultimately, humans that aren't aware of the supernatural world tell the story of Solomon in a certain way, following religious scripture. Devils tell it another way because the idea that a human could not only summon but also bind the Demon Kings of the Underworld is equal parts infuriating and outrageous as it must be terrifying. I'm sure Heaven has their own version of events too, though I'm not too keen on trying to ring up Michael for a chat about how it all really happened. And then there's the minority of magicians, believing in other worlds and the possibility of intelligent lifeforms that we can't comprehend."

"And you? Which do you put the most stock in?"

"Me? I believe...," he trailed off intentionally, taking pleasure in the way Rias was unconsciously holding her breath in anticipation of his answer. "In whatever sounds the most interesting," Suimei finished, snickering when his master's shoulders slumped and her expression deflated at his non-answer. "Come on, did you really expect anything different from me? Tying myself down to a single belief and disregarding the rest as falsehoods, that's such a boring way to live. Magicians are always seeking the truth, always working towards unraveling the mysteries of the world. 'cause of that, we're a pretty wishy-washy bunch. Our views change every other minute as we take in new information."

"You should still take up a position," Rias grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Leading her on with such a grand story, only to end it in such an anti-climactic way. That was so like him that it was a wonder how she hadn't seen it coming. "Surely you believe in at least one of them."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't~," the boy said in a sing-song voice, enjoying the opportunity to mess with her. "We're getting off-topic anyway. I wanted to talk about Merlin and we somehow went all the way back to Solomon's era."

"Right. Sorry."

"Don't be. Asking questions about something you want to know more about, a desire to learn and understand, it's an attractive trait. If you're not learning and adapting then you're stagnating, and if you're stagnating you'll die soon after. That's a core principle that all magicians hold in high esteem," he said, unnoticing of the small amount of redness, more out of surprise than embarrassment, on Rias' cheeks that had manifested itself when he called her inquisitiveness attractive. Granted, he had followed it up with a rather grim statement about death but still. "Want me to finish what we first started talking about? I figure we've got another twenty minutes 'till we make it to the gates."

"Please do."

"Alright, so, Merlin – genius magician. The only person throughout history higher than him is Solomon. But Merlin, for everything he accomplished in his life, from the prophecies he divined to discovering and helping to guide the Once and Future King, did not _'create'_ humanity's most-used system of magic. What he _did_ do is something that's arguably far more incredible. He took the key fundamentals and ideas behind all studies of magic, and when I say all I do mean _all_ , and bound all of them together to create one unified and streamlined system that encompassed everything. From the basics of Elemental Magic all the way down to the forbidden arts of Necromancy, nothing was left out."

"Isn't that a bit irresponsible, to include magic as reprehensible as necromancy?"

"Eh, probably. For as great as Merlin was, he was also an eccentric and a ridiculously huge show-off. I've heard people go as far as to say the only reason he did what he did was to prove that he _could_ , not for any deeper reason like giving humanity the means by which to defend themselves from supernatural enemies that would otherwise stomp all over them. Regardless of intent, his system that was comprised of the core elements of _all_ systems was also incredibly simple. Anyone that had awakened their mana and had a firm grasp of control over it now had the means to cast spells after some proper tutelage. Gone were the hours upon hours of training, studying, preparations, and rites you had to go through just to conjure up a single spark.

"See, in the modern era, what we call specialists today, that's what used to pass as the norm. You spent your entire life dedicated to one, maybe two if you were lucky, subsections of magic and that was it. Even setting aside cultural differences, language barriers, and religious beliefs as well as technological difficulties that made it difficult to share information as easily as we do now, people just preferred to stay within the bounds of what they understood to be magic. And then you factor in the groups that went as far as to denounce other ways of practicing or performing magic, going on about how it the work of evil or wicked false gods. Which, granted, in regards to some forms Patron Magic – Ah, that's basically forming a pact with a supernatural being in exchange for some of their power, in case you didn't know. – that's not necessarily _false_ depending on who the human in question is dealing with, but it's still pretty damn hypocritical. Calling other magic fake and yours the only real one, that's just hubris, especially when nobody at the time was even making an attempt to understand other systems.

"But Merlin, he changed up the entire game. He centralized all magic within his own system by borrowing from the others to create something everyone could use, regardless of religious beliefs, personal creeds, ethnicity, location, blah blah blah, you get where I'm going with this. In a way, it's a sort of _'jack of all trades, master of none'_ way of performing magic.

"Let's use something like Norse magic for example. The caster in this scenario knows and understands the bare minimum of Norse spellcasting and, as such, the quality of the spell being used takes a hit. Now, if they specialized in Norse magic that would be completely unacceptable and they'd be told to go back to the drawing board. However, because they can combine that Norse magic with something else outside of that spectrum like, say, Fuinjutsu, just to pick a random magic technique, that downside can be overlooked. You get where I'm going with this?"

"Flexibility in exchange for raw power," Rias replied, nodding in understanding. "Because the system provides access to such a wide array of spells, it's preferred over specialization in one field, which can leave holes in a person's arsenal. The loss of power that comes from a lack of understanding can be covered for with either casting spells with a high compatibility in rapid succession or pouring more mana into it."

"A+ answer, very good. It's a shame you're already set in your ways of using the devil's system of spellcasting. I'd have loved to take you on as my apprentice," Suimei said wistfully, earning himself an unnoticed look of amusement from Rias. How long had it been since he discussed magic at a length like this with anyone? Too long, far too long. Ddraig, for all his wisdom, never particularly cared much for observing his hosts when it came to using magic (if they used it at all rather than rely solely upon the Boosted Gear) but that never stopped Suimei from pestering the dragon for knowledge. No wonder the dragon preferred to sleep his days away, only being roused when the situation called for it.

"There has to be more to it than that though, doesn't there? This seems too convenient."

"Oh, feeling suspicious, are we? That's good. And you'd be right, there's another pitfall of Merlin's cobbled together system, but it has nothing to do with the magic itself and everything to do with the people."

"The people?" Rias asked, confused. The magicians themselves were the problem? "How so?"

"Think about it. You're a member of a prestigious and illustrious group, capable of doing things other people can only dream of. For some individuals, their entire livelihoods were based upon the fact that they could use magic and others around them couldn't. Their pride, their self-image, their lives, _everything_ about them was based around that fact. But now, someone comes along and says _'That gift, that talent that you have that's solely yours? I'm making it available to everyone.'_ and there was really nothing they could do to stop it. It destroyed them.

"Magicians, see, they're a proud bunch. An _elitist_ bunch. And the idea of some commoner being able to learn their craft, to step foot into their territory, it didn't sit well with them. From what I've seen and heard, it still doesn't. It's a common practice between two magicians who have never met before and have no one vouching for them to demand the other prove their heritage in one way or another, and if your family hasn't lived, sweat, and bled magic for at least several generations then don't expect the other party to look at you as anything more than baseborn scum. You won't be trusted, you won't be listened to, your contributions to the study of magic as a whole will be passed over, and no one will lend you a helping hand should you ever require it. You are, for all intents and purposes, an outcast."

"That's terrible," the redhead said, aghast. That type of prejudice, it was no different than the kind Reincarnated Devils faced in the Underworld. It, arguably, sounded even worse in some ways. A Reincarnated Devil could distinguish themselves through their achievements and accomplishments. Magicians, from what Suimei had said, would deny others even so much as the opportunity to prove their ability, and even if you were to get around that they would simply ignore it anyway. You were stuck where you were when starting, never allowed to move forward in any meaningful way, all because you weren't born to the _"right"_ kind of family.

"It is, isn't it?" Suimei said, a bitter smile coming to his face as his fists clenched in anger. _'People like that, they're why Mother...'_ He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to go down that path. All it would do was put him in a foul mood for the rest of the day. "Those types of magicians, they would have hated my father just on the principle that he taught himself how to use magic. Can you imagine that? The amount of skill, of talent, of dedication and hard work that goes into learning magic even with the proper instruction and teachers, it's tremendous, but he did it all by himself starting with just a single grimoire. But they would deny all of that because he didn't have the right ancestry."

Rias laid a hand on his arm, trying to comfort him but not wishing to interrupt him either. What was there to say? That those people were wrong? He knew that. The way his voice trembled with anger, the fire she could see growing in his eyes, the way his hands were shaking as they hung down by his sides, to say that those magicians were wrong would be nothing more than stating a fact that he felt was self-evident. She could tell there was something more to it, her years with her peerage and doing her best to help them with their emotional issues had granted her enough intuition to know the reasons for his reaction ran far deeper than what he was saying, but she chose to not voice those thoughts. Right now, he needed to vent, so she would stand silent and allow him to do just that.

But, for as quickly as the storm had been building, it vanished just as fast. Suimei took a few deep breathes and calmed himself down, sending a thankful glance Rias' way for doing her best to comfort him before letting her know it was unnecessary. Besides, he had caught a glimpse of something in the distance that was far more important at the moment than a grudge he had been nursing for who knows how long. It seemed their conversation would have to be put on hold. This was as good a place as any to stop for the moment anyway.

"Oi, Rias. We've got a problem," he said, eyes narrowing briefly at who, or rather what, he was seeing ahead of them. To think that one of their kind would be here, of all places. As if Azazel wasn't bad enough, now they had members of the Church running around. What was next? An angel descending from Heaven? _'Actually, maybe I shouldn't think that. With my recent crap luck, it'll actually happen,'_ he thought before pointing at exactly what he was talking about.

Rias looked at him in confusion before slowly turning her head to look in the same direction Suimei was pointing towards. Was this going to be of those "made you look" practical jokes? Surely not, especially after such a serious discussion. For as juvenile as Suimei could act at times, even he had to have limits, right? _Right?_ "What am I supposed to be looking at? I don't see anythi-"

Her words caught in her throat as she finally saw what Suimei was talking about. There, stood several feet away from them and staring at a map with the most confused face she had ever seen, was a girl. A blonde, shorter than herself by what looked like a few inches. That in and of itself wasn't the problem. The problem was the crucifix necklace hanging from her neck and the clothes she was wearing. A dark teal nun outfit. This girl, she was...

"Ten to one odds says that blondie over there's a legit nun and not some cosplayer lost on her way to a con. You feel like a betting girl today?" he asked, reverting back to his casual and irreverent way of talking while he poked fun at Rias' shocked reaction. Given how utterly baffled the unknown girl appeared to be by a simple map, one that he noted she was holding upside down so that probably explained the confusion, it looked like it was time for his one good deed of the day.

Not even two steps later, Rias grabbed him by the same arm she had previously been touching in a comforting gesture and nearly tore it out of the socket with the force she used to pull him back. "Uh, _ow?_ Can you not do that? That's my Boosted Gear arm. Gonna need to keep that attached, thanks."

"Where do you think you're going?" the female devil asked in a harsh whisper. "You were about to go over there and talk to her, weren't you? Have you lost your mind?"

"Now Rias, you know we're not dating. I'm flattered that you're so jealous but I'm free to talk to any girl I want. Unless this is your way of asking me out, in which case I think it needs some work," he joked, wincing when the redhead tightened the death-grip she had on his arm. "Okay, just because you can heal it back to normal with your nakedness doesn't mean you can go and break my arm into pieces. Can you let go before you cut off my blood circulation?"

"Will you be serious for once?" she said, trying to pull him in another direction to no avail as he stubbornly dug his heels in. Why? Why did he have to pick the worst possible time to be stubborn? "Suimei, _please._ Just several days ago you had a meeting with Azazel that could have ended in disaster, there are still other fallen angels in the city, all I'm asking is that you don't go and antagonize the Church and Heaven. You told me earlier to think about the consequences of my actions but are you thinking about the consequences of _yours_ right now?"

Suimei raised an eyebrow at his King. "Do you think I'm gonna go over there and punch her in the face or something? What kind of guy do you take me for?" he asked in a faked offended tone, one that did nothing to relax Rias as the grip she had on him grew tighter once more. "Besides that girl," his eyes flicked from Rias' blue ones back to the blonde nun, "I feel like I know her from somewhere," Suimei admitted.

"You're just saying that as an excuse to go up to her," Rias said flatly, but lessened her hold slightly. He had admitted to her to traveling both within Japan and overseas in search of someone that could diagnose and treat his illness. Had he met her on one of those trips? Still, whether he did or didn't was irrelevant. He was a devil now and she, assuming she wasn't wearing those garments for show, was a nun. A relationship between the two was impossible at this point. Surely he knew as much.

"A. I could have come up with a much better lie than that if that was the angle I was shooting for. B. I'm being honest. Something about her, I feel like I recognize her. Dunno from where though. Is this what Déjà vu is like?" he pretended to ask. Truth be told, he really did feel like he recognized her and the fact that he didn't know why was bothering him. That vague sense of familiarity, it wasn't something he could just leave alone. He already warned Rias that magicians were the type to chase after the truth, it should have come as no surprise to her that he wanted to go over and talk to the other girl.

"You want to go up to a girl, who is affiliated with our natural enemies, who you're not even sure whether or not you've actually met, because of _Déjà vu_?"

"When you say it like that it just sounds stupid. Come on, sound more upbeat and positive. Aren't you supposed to be all hospitable and playing nice with others while they're in your territory and haven't done anything wrong?"

"I place a higher value on your life than I do _'playing nice'_ with someone that could be an enemy."

"Aw, that's sweet. You saying something like that makes my heart beat all fast. See, now _that_ is how you ask someone out. Write down a line like that and hold onto it, you'll win over anybody if you say something like that to them with such a serious face."

"Suimei..."

"Look," he began, taking on a serious expression for the first time since the conversation about what to do in the face of an unknown blonde nun, "let's just go over there and give her directions to wherever it is she's going. After that, we can leave. She's not gonna attack us in broad daylight and even if she did, she can't take both of us. Unless you think she's got backup or something, but I'm not feeling anything nearby. You?"

Ignoring his question, she sighed. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" Rias asked, shaking her head when Suimei's response was to give her a smirk. Of all the times for him to play the role of the good Samaritan, did it have to be now? And with a member of the Church? It was dangerous, stupid, possibly even life-threatening if the girl turned out to be a skilled exorcist or something else along those lines. "Fine," she said after a few moments of deliberations. "But no more than giving her directions. If she moves to attack us or calls for reinforcements, we run. No arguments and I won't hear a word otherwise. I'll drag you away if I have to. Understand?"

He nodded in acceptance. That was fair enough, though he could have done without the promise to drag him away from the scene. He already told her he wasn't about to throw his life away, it should have been obvious that meant sticking around to get shanked by a pack of exorcists or angels descending from Heaven. But, if it made his master feel more secure and accepting of his choice then he could at least go along with it.

With that in mind, he slipped his arm out of Rias' grasp and took her by the hand, pulling her in the direction of the girl who was _still_ , even through their several-minute long argument, looking at the map in her hands in confusion. Without hesitation, he called out to her.

"Oi, Sister! You need some help?"

* * *

 **And, scene. Honestly, I probably could have gone on a bit longer and had actually intended to go all the way up to the fight with Viser but decided to cut things a bit short here. Sorry~, you'll have to wait for just one more chapter for the actiony, fighting, magic and punchy stuff. Mea culpa.**

 **Now, with the apologies out of the way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! It came off as more info-dumpish than I would have liked but I really, _really_ dislike canon DxD's way of handling magic. Or, rather, the way it _doesn't_ handle magic at all except handwaving it as "it just works". I borrowed concepts from other works of fiction (Nasuverse being one of them, as some of you will no doubt recognize with the discussion about Solomon) to try and create something that I feel functions far better. ****Don't expect the story to become a sudden crossover though, this is just the borrowing of a few ideas here and there, especially in regards to magic because I feel DxD's explanation of it was incredibly underwhelming.**

 **And yes, I'm aware that I didn't actually have Suimei explain to Rias what type of magic he uses. That was intended.**

 **Speaking of Suimei, I felt it prudent to disavow anyone of the belief that he'll turn out to be some sort of descendant of Merlin or anything like that. He's not. He is as he says he is, a magician that happened to be born with the Boosted Gear. Nothing special about his bloodline. As for his past, specifically the mention of his mother and the severe reaction he had, you'll just have to wait on that. Good things come in time, or so the saying goes.**

 **I struggled a little with the first scene because I wanted to address something that I felt went unaddressed in canon (at least at that time, the LNs go a bit further into it down the line), and that's that I feel Rias has a small superiority complex. Her mother is the strongest woman to ever come from the Bael clan, her brother is a Lucifer with strength surpassing the original's, her sister-in-law is the Strongest Queen, and her cousin is the Strongest Youth. There's got to be a feeling of expectations being put upon her to live up to all these big names and titles surrounding her, which explains why she wanted to try and solve the Kokabiel issue without involving her brother. She wants to stand on her own and prove she's capable in her own right, but she's ignoring that part of standing on your own is knowing when you're so in over your head that you need to ask for help.**

 **Anyways, that's just one of my takes on that and part of Rias' personality. Some people see it in a different way, that Rias was being arrogant by not calling the Satans and thinking her peerage could take on a Cadre, or that she was hoping to cover up the situation by quietly dealing with the situation and thus avoiding the devils and the fallen angel factions as a whole coming to a confrontation over Kokabiel's actions, etc, etc.** **Point is that I wanted to do something with that aspect of Rias and the earlier-than-canon meeting with Azazel gave me the opportunity. I want to change canon in small, but meaningful, ways at first. Ways that ripple outwards and create significant changes down the line.**

 **No real questions to answer in the reviews this time. The chapter went on longer than I intended 'cause I got caught up in the zone and wrote till I felt I hit an appropriate place to stop. Sorry for the lack of action but hopefully I'll be able to make that up next chapter. For now, I'll end on the typical note of please review because it makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside and seeing the email notification letting me know I got a new one brightens up my day. Ciao for now.**


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